Gilded Cage (New Version)
by Lunesca Solsbane
Summary: It started out as a summer vacation for Raven and Hawk, but what happens when one of them gets hurt? What happens when they are found by the Reikai Tentai? How are these two connected to Hiei's past and will he be able to keep a long forgotten promise? Hiei x Oc, Kurama x Oc. This is the Re-write for the original Gilded Cage! Rating T, rating may change with sequel.
1. Chapter 1: Summer Vacation

Lunesca: Well, here it is! I'm finally getting to my re-write of "Guilded Cage"! I don't know often I'm going to be able to update, it should go by fairly quickly, but I did find many things that I wanted to change from the original story…to think it's been about 10 years since I actually wrote it…*sigh* Well…enough reminiscing! On to the new and improved "Guilded Cage"!

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

**_Dream/Memories_**

**YYH** = Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 1: Summer Vacation!**

'Shh, keep quiet' Raven calmly scolded her sister, mentally, for giggling. Her black leather pants and shirt helped hide her in the shadows as they waited for the guards to pass by. She flicked a strand of red-black hair out of her face, the color of it imitating blood in the dark. She kept her black feathered wings wrapped around her shoulders to hide her pale skin from sight. She turned her burgundy red eyes to her sister as she gauged their approach. A black sheath hung at her side, the hand of a sword barely visible.

Hawk rolled her silver eyes at her sister's chiding. Raven was older by a decade and never let her forget it. She kept her cloak tight around her to hide the fact that her wings, shirt and hair were light enough to give her away as they snuck through the castle. Her black leather skirt hung to her ankles and had slits up the sides for easy maneuverability. In contrast her white long sleeve shirt showed the top of her cleavage and everything between the ribs and waistline. Nestled just above her chest was a silver chain holding a black hawk in flight. Her hair sparkled with silver and gold highlights despite it being mostly black.

'You know I can't help it!' She replied the same way. 'We're sneaking around a dark lord's castle in an attempt to find a portal to earth. And why, you might ask? Because my psychotic older sister decided that she wanted to go to Ningenkai for a summer vacation!'

Raven mentally sighed as Hawk continued on her rant. 'I mean it's not like it's dangerous or illegal right? Oh wait! It is!' Hawk was nearly yelling and it was causing a twitch to start behind Raven's left eye. She turned to her sister and glared. 'Not to mention if Lord Koenma, or worse, Lord Enma found out we'd find ourselves in Spirit World Prison faster than you could blink…'

Raven cut her off, trying to focus on the timing and route. 'Well it wouldn't be a problem if you would just keep your mouth shut about it! Now be quiet I'm trying to concentrate here, unless you want to get caught?' She glanced over her should again. Hawk meekly shook her head no.

'You were a lot more fun when we were younger…' Hawk mused to herself, forgetting that her and Raven were linked for a moment. Her voice was sad enough that Raven mentally flinched at the hopelessness of her words.

'I'm sorry Hawk' Raven whispered. She had become her sister's protector at a young age and it caused a rift in their friendship. Raven wished things could have been different but she could not change the past and keeping Hawk safe was her first priority. Thus, the sudden trip to Ningenkai.

Just before they moved to turn around the last corner and make a break for the exit, four boys came running down the hall to the right. Raven tucked Hawk in behind her and just barely missed the two of them being seen by these unknown enemies. 'Those were not any kind of guards I've seen.' Raven mused to Hawk.

Hawk shook her head and used her abilities to cloak them in shadows. It wouldn't last long but with Raven cloaking there energy it would last long enough for the two of them to make it to the portal and escape. If they got caught now they'd be in serious trouble. The two of them waited for a group of guards to pass before running for the portal room.

'I wonder what's up?' Hawk mused to Raven as they ran. The guards had run to the East wing while the girls were running West, the direction the boys had gone. 'It couldn't have been us or they'd have gone to the portal room to wait.'

They entered the portal room to see the four boys fighting with some guards. One turned and faced their direction for a moment before having to turn back and battle another guard. Raven grabbed Hawk's hand and made a dash for the portal, leaping in before anyone noticed them.

**YYH**

"Yes! We made it!" Hawk yelled as they landed in a cave somewhere in a remote forest. Her voice echoed a bit since they were well towards the back of the cave. "Let the vacation begin!"

Raven looked around at where they had landed. _Even if someone were to use this cave for shelter, chances are they wouldn't even want to come this far back._ She thought to herself and followed her sister out of the structure.

"So what are we going to do first?" Hawk mused as Raven only half listened to her sister. She was more on the look out for potential dangers as the forest would be a good place for low level demons to hide. Even a "C" class demon was dangerous under the right circumstances. "Raven! Are you even listening to me?" Hawk demanded with a small pout.

Raven sighed and gave her sister a small smirk. "Okay so we're here, what do you want to do?" She asked assuming her sister had planned out several things to do since hearing about the trip over a month ago. Raven had heard rumors about the portal and upon further inspection she found them to be true. So, she planned to keep her sister safe by getting the two of them out of Makai for a while.

"um I'm not sure." Hawk sweatdropped and put her hand behind her head in embarrassment. "I heard a few rumors, but I don't know much about humans or their world." Raven stopped in her tracks. They had been walking down a small trail that looked like it was uncommonly used but not forgotten.

"You mean to tell me that you didn't do any research on this place? I only followed the rumors because I thought you wanted to visit here!" Raven growled, her voice never raising but the tone said plenty about her temper. Hawk chuckled nervously. She knew her sister wouldn't really hurt her but the threat of it was enough to make her shake in her sexy black boots.

"Well, I'd heard rumors about it and then you said you found a way through and I had trouble finding any real information was all." Hawk mumbled in apology. Raven sighed and muttered to herself as she turned and began walking away. In the distance the two could see what appeared to be a park at the edge of the woods.

Before Hawk could mutter any more apologies the two reached the edge of the park, just inside the treeline, and a rubber ball rolled up to them and landed at Raven's feet. A group of boys no more than twelve or thirteen came running up to them. "Can we have our ball back please?" The oldest one asked politely. Hawk picked up the ball, causing her cloak to fall backwards and reveal her white wings.

The boy who had called out was almost to them when he saw the wings and her claws. A quick scan revealed that the two sisters were demons and the boy rand off without his ball, yelling at his friends to run from the demons of the forest.

Raven began chuckling darkly at the response of the boys until Hawk gave her a light slap on the shoulder. 'Raven you baka! We need to look human.' Hawk demanded and Raven sent her an image of confusion. Hawk rolled her eyes. 'I'd forgotten that one of the things about these humans is that they don't trust demons. Often times they shun and try to kill them…with good reason if you ask me.' She explained to her elder sister.

'But it's so fun to scare the lowly humans' Raven teased. 'It's not like they can really hurt us anyways.'

Hawk was not pleased and glared at her sister. She really didn't want to spend their time here running from weak humans just because Raven didn't want to 'blend in'. 'Change now!' Hawk yelled mentally, putting some force to it to get her point across.

Raven grumbled and complied with her sister's demand. It was rare for Hawk to be angry but Raven did her best to keep her sister happy and if that meant playing human so be it. As soon as Raven's wings disappeared, her hair color darkened even more and her eyes turned to a lilac blue color she turned to her sister. Hawk's hair turned a platinum blonde and her eyes darkened to a silvery grey color that was less noticeable but stunning all the same. Their claws and fangs greatly receded leaving them virtually defenseless in that stead, but they still had access to their Ki and demonic abilities.

After all was said and done, Hawk did a small skip out of the forest and turning around she walked backwards, looking at Raven. "I'm hungry! Let's go find something sweet!" She said before skipping off and wandering around the area.

Raven gave a small chuckle, following her sister to an ice cream stand Hawk was already ordering a triple vanilla cone. Raven ruffled her hair and told the man that she wanted mint chocolate chip. The vendor gave them the cones and told Raven the cost. Not familiar with human currency she handed him some Makai coins, more than enough to pay for the treat. The guy started to smile then realized it the money was different.

"Hey! What is this?" He cried out to them before they'd gone more than a few steps away. "I want real money now or I'm going to call the police!" He threatened, his fist wrapped around the coins tight enough to turn his knuckles white. Raven frowned and turned to him, glaring.

"Those are perfectly good coins! Either you can take them or leave them I really don't care which." She growled at him. The vendor got smart and backed down. The coins appeared to be of an old variety, maybe they were still worth something to the right person. Satisfied Raven continued walking with Hawk directly on her heels. Wanting to punish the man for challenging her, Raven sent a small fireball at the cart, taking out one of the wheels.

Raven smirked at her sister who simply glared back. Hawk so rarely got mad that, that small glare upset Raven and she felt some minor guilt. 'What?' She asked hiding how she felt. Hawk finished her cone and increased her pace so she was ahead of her sister.

'You very well know what.' She hissed mentally. 'You can't do things like that here! If we cause enough people to notice us then the Reikai police force will be hunting us down in no time. I will be really upset with you if our vacation gets ruined because we're locked in a cell somewhere in Reikai for who knows how long.'

With that she stalked off and turned a corner down a small side street. Halfway down the block was a partially hidden alleyway. Raven got an itchy feeling between her shoulders signaling "danger" but she followed on her sister's heels anyways, determined to protect her. As Hawk hit the edge of the alleyway a group of guys stepped out and quickly surrounded the two girls. Raven could hear traffic in three different directions from where they were but knew no one would see what was going on. These fools had done this plenty of times before.

One of the boys, presumably the leader, stepped forward and began circling Hawk. Raven noticed his greasy brown hair and sickening smile that showed he had no intent of letting them leave without a price. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he asked lifting a strand of Hawk's hair to his nose and taking a long whiff. "Is this a couple of young girls with no escort? Don't you know it's dangerous in these parts? Something could…happen, if you know what I mean"

"Yes something could happen so I suggest you leave now before it happens to you and your boys." Raven growled at him her eyes shifting color slightly. The man's smirk turned to a frown. He obviously wasn't used to females standing up to him. In fact most would be in tears or screaming by now. These two seemed to confuse him.

'Raven, no killing or mortally wounding.' Hawk sent her sister without even glancing her way. It was highly obvious where this was going. These fools weren't going to back down. In fact, the leader had moved towards Raven while his men began inspecting Hawk; their intents showing plainly on their faces. 'We don't need the RPF coming after us over some smelly jerkwads.'

Raven merely gave a very slight nod as she analyzed the situation. She let out a small smirk as the leader made his way back to the front of her. He looked at her and frowned harder. His face showed that he had had enough games and was ready to put these two in their place. Raven appeared to be ignoring him so he backhanded her across the face. "Pay attention bitch! You're going to be my slave for the foreseeable future."

Raven took her time recovering from the slap, it hadn't truly done any damage, but she felt like playing with the idiots in front of her like a cat with a mouse. The other men were grabbing Hawk with their free hands as weapons had appeared in their hands to force the girls into submission. "Is that all you've got?" She asked unamused.

Seeing trouble the men once again surrounded the two and the leader now had a gun in his hand, pointed at Hawk. This was going nowhere good, fast. Hawk trusted Raven to get them out of their situation with as little damage as possible, but she was still a bit worried. "You had your chance to come willingly." The greasy leader announced and with some unseen signal the group attacked.

Raven and Hawk fought off the men as their leader watched. As the last one fell to the ground unconscious, Raven looked at the man left standing. He still had the gun pointed at Hawk but this time with fear in his face. Hawk was checking one of the men that had been hit harder than necessary so she did not see the danger. Raven knew what a gun could do even though they were very rarely used by demons.

As the hammer clicked back she heard the man say something and within seconds she had Hawk on the ground, safe from the bullet. A sharp, burning pain pierced her shoulder and it hung limp at her side as she landed hard. She rolled and threw a fireball at the man, hitting him in the chest and the man instantly hit the ground. "Burn you son of a bitch!" She growled and pulled herself up.

Hawk, having recovered and seeing what happened, checked her sister over. Bandaging up the wound as best she could she went to check on the man. "He'll live." She said and helped Raven to stand.

The bullet hadn't hit anything vital but it did a lot of damage and was bleeding a lot. Hawk gave her sister her cloak and Raven used her free hand to cover the wound from sight. "Thanks." She said and Hawk nodded. She seemed a little worried. "Let's find some shelter and properly tend to this. Are you alright?"

Hawk shrugged. "They got a couple of scratches on me but nothing serious. I didn't have nearly enough room to maneuver so I couldn't block everything." Raven nodded and glanced at her sister but none of the scratches seemed too serious or obvious. The two left the side street and made it out to an area with lots of people.

Stores lined both sides of the street and it was crowded. Raven didn't care for the risks, but figured they were better off with more people around them than less. No one was as likely to notice anything wrong with the sisters. Hawk stayed close to her sister and her head swung back and forth trying to take everything in. This amused Raven but she kept to herself, she was glad that Hawk was happy for a change. It had been too long since she had seen the girl truly smile.

They arrived at a corner and were getting ready to cross the street in front of them when a group of girls came around that same corner. None of them saw each other and the two groups ended up colliding. "Ouch!" The brunette said as she landed on her butt. Raven flinched as the contact send more fiery pain up her shoulder.

'What no warning?' She grumbled to her sister. The younger demon was the better of the two at sensing energies, so Raven had been relying on her to sense the humans around them.

'Sorry' Hawk muttered back, feeling bad that she had failed to take care of her sister. 'There's so many energies floating around that I didn't sense them coming.' She said apologizing again. Raven ruffled her hair and gave her a small smile. Hawk perked up slightly but still felt guilty. It wasn't often that Raven needed her and she hated failing when those rare times did appear.

"Hey are you two new around here?" asked a blue haired girl with pink eyes. Raven found this strange but didn't dwell on it too much. She did feel like she recognized the girl and by the look on Hawk's face she did too. Then it clicked…she was a "ferry girl" one of Lord Koenma's escorts for the spirits of the dead.

'Keep cool, I got this.' She said to Hawk before adopting a confused look on her face. She had gotten by for a long time with her acting abilities. She glanced at the third girl and immediately recognized her as an ice maiden. _Strange what is an ice maiden doing in Ningenkai? Wait, the only one I heard of living here is that one that was rescued by the Spirit Detectives…that means…shit!_She relayed her thoughts to Hawk who agreed immediately. They had to get away from these girls and quick.

"Um yeah, sorry about the run in, we're kinda new around here." Raven said cheerfully, hoping the two blue haired girls wouldn't recognize them for being demons. After the dark tournament everyone in Makai knew to avoid these girls or it would be a death sentence. "Sorry but we should get going. We've still got to get home and unpack."

The ferry girl squealed and grabbed Raven's hand, fortunately it was the uninjured side. "Oh we have to go shopping then! The mall is just right around the corner and we were heading there ourselves anyways! Please say you'll join us?" The girls didn't even get to take a breath before she continued. "Great! Oh, Gomen nasai! We haven't introduced ourselves! I'm Botan, the brunette is Keiko and this one is Yukina! Oh I just know this will be so much fun!"

Feeling a bit cornered and unable to find a way out of this she offered an awkward smile. "I'm Raven and this is my younger sister, Hawk." She tried to move away. "We really should get going…"

Before she could finish Botan grabbed both of them by the hands and began dragging them behind her. "Nonsense! We insist that you join us. Unpacking can wait, it's not going anywhere." The other two girls seemed to be a little embarrassed by their friends actions but shrugged it off and smiled at the two sisters. Raven sighed and finally relented. Botan let go and the group made their way to the mall.

Raven glanced over her shoulder a couple of times, feeling like they were being watched. The energy felt like a fire demon but it kept disappearing so quickly that she couldn't be sure. Instead she was determined to keep the other girls safe. Maybe if she protected their friends the detectives wouldn't be so harsh on her and Hawk if they were found out. Which, Raven had the feeling would be sooner rather than later.

At the mall the girls dragged Raven and Hawk through so many different stores she was having trouble keeping them straight. After about an hour of browsing, Botan squealed again and pulled a dress off one of the racks and held it out to Raven. The dress was a dark, royal blue color and had many intricate cuts and designs on it that it almost appealed to Raven.

"You have to try this on!" Botan insisted. Yukina and Keiko agreed that the dress would look lovely on the darker sister. Raven tried to turn it down, not wanting to get her blood on such a beautiful item. She couldn't use that excuse though so she tried to just decline. "Oh, but I insist!" Botan said shoving the dress into Raven's hands.

Hawk was amused up until the point that the cloak Raven had been wearing slipped open enough for the girls to see the blood covering Raven's shirt. She tossed the dress back to Botan and closed up the cloak once again, hiding the damage. The girls began to insist on taking her to the hospital, making comments on the injury and trying to inquire as to what happened.

Finally Raven lost her temper and growled at the girls. "Enough, I don't need to go to some human hospital…" She trailed off realizing what she had said and paled a little hoping the girls didn't notice. Keiko and Yukina frowned and looked a little worried while Botan was upset.

"You're demons?" Yukina asked, a small look of fear crossed her face. Keiko's face mirrored the ice koorime's almost exactly. Looking Yukina in the eyes she had the feeling of seeing eyes like hers before, only much colder looking.

The two girls were dragged out of the store to the alley behind it. Once they were concealed Botan let go of Raven and pulled out her compact mirror. _Well this is an odd time to be looking at her make up. I thought she was going to report us to…_

"Lord Koenma?" Botan said into the mirror and a glance over her shoulder told Raven that the mirror was really a concealed communicator. "I found the two that you were looking for. One is injured and in need of medical attention, but we can't do it here." After a few seconds of jumbled instructions from the mirror Botan nodded. "Right, we'll wait here then."

"Yusuke and the others are just down the street, they'll be here in moments and then we'll all take you to Reikai for treatment and a trial. Lord Koenma is going to have to decide what to do with you." Botan said in that perky voice and it began to grate on Raven's nerves. "Though I'm sure he'll go leanient on you two. He feared that the demons that had crossed were more dangerous to the humans around here, but you two seem okay…"

Her and Hawk began talking while Raven rested against the wall, keeping her senses alert as much as possible. The drain from the wound was starting to take its toll on her. She blinked and when she opened her eyes Hawk was standing in front of her, a worried look on her face. At some point Raven began breaking out into a sweat and Hawk was concerned.

Before the girls could say anything to each other, a big carrot top oaf was flying around the corner. He stopped at Yukina and grabbed her hand asking if she was okay, wanting to know if the demons had done anything to her. Yukina blushed and stuttered that she was fine.

A boy with black, greasy, slicked back hair was next and had a similar look of worry on his face as she saw Keiko next to the sisters. Glancing at the situation he seemed to decide that the girls were okay and made his way over to the group at a slower pace. He said a few words to Keiko and examined the two sisters.

A boy with long red hair and emerald eyes was the next to appear. He calmly examined the situation and made his way over, greeting the girls. He came up to Raven and introduced himself. "I'm Kurama Minamino. May I look at your wound so I can see how much damage has been done?"

Surprised at his politeness Raven agreed. As he poked at the injury, Raven kept her face stoic and did her best to avoid swaying. This injury was kicking her ass more than she had expected. "What is your name?" He asked. Raven told him as her vision began to flutter. Kurama looked at her curiously and stepped back just in time to avoid a sword at his throat.

Raven reacted to the blade, by pulling her own and knocking the sword away. The demon she faced was just a couple inches taller than her, not counting the spikey black hair. His eyes looked very much like Yukina's and she wandered if the two could be related. The demon did a few swings of his sword before appearing behind Raven, ignoring the yells of his comrades. Kurama held Hawk back from the battle, sure that his friend would not hurt the girl any more than necessary.

Hiei used the pommel of his sword to knock the girl out. Picking her up he glanced at the sword that Kuwabara was just getting ready to pick up. "Stop!" He snapped at the idiot. He didn't care if the idiot got himself killed but Yukina seemed attached to him and he didn't betray his teammates. And, letting the dumb oaf get himself killed out of ignorance struck him as a type of betrayal.

Kurama glanced at the sword and recognized it as well. "Keiko, please grab the sword and place it back in its sheath." He asked her gently. Keiko complied and the group traveled through a portal, leaving no evidence behind that they had been there, except for some small bloodspots.

**Chapter 1 End!**

Lune: Wow! That was a great Re-write! It's nearly twice as long as the first time I did it and it seems to be a lot better. The characters seem to be more properly in, well, character. Please tell me what you think! Ja ne!


	2. Chapter 2: Decisions, Decisions

Lunesca: Okay, so I noticed that I actually cut into the next chapter on the original story but where I left of this time game me a better stopping point. As you can see (if you've read the old version) I've not only changed my writing style but I did alter the story in certain parts to make it flow better…basically, the main story is still the same but It's getting written totally different. Oh and I forgot the disclaimer so here it goes (and I'm only saying this once because obviously I would not be writing a Fanfic if I owned the rights to anything.)

I, Lunesca Solsbane, do not own any aspect including characters, environments, base storyline or anything having to do with Yu Yu Hakusho in it's original form. I do however own Raven, Hawk, other OCs that will appear throughout the story and the actual plotline itself…okay that's everything I think…

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

_**Dream/Memories**_

_**YYH**_ Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 2: Decisions, decisions….**

Raven woke in a dark room that smelled strongly of burning pine trees, though she didn't find the smell to be unpleasant. It strongly reminded her of a campfire and left her feeling relaxed. She attempted to sit up so she could look around but a firm hand was placed on her uninjured shoulder and pushed her back down. Trying to remember what had happened, not able to see who was in the room with her, she tested her voice before speaking. "What happened? Where am I? What have you done with Hawk?"

Her eyes were starting to get used to the dimly lit interior and she could see a blurred figure sitting next to her on the bed. Crimson eyes seemed to glow in the dark but she wasn't afraid of them. "Baka onna!" A male voice growled at her. He seemed to be very upset over something. "Don't you know that a single bullet has the power to kill even high ranking demons if left untreated? What were you thinking?"

The demand in his voice angered Raven and as her vision continued to adjust she recognized the figure to be Hiei. She was highly irritated at him so she growled back, "And what makes you think that I could be killed by one measly bullet? Do you think me to be that weak? I've been shot before and I'm still here aren't I? What are you so worried for anyways? It's not like you really care or anything."

"You're just like your parents." He said and continued before she could say anything. He knew he had confused her but he was pissed at her lack of self-preservation. "You've got your mothers fiery temper and your father's stubbornness."

Raven looked at him in shock. He had described her parent's personalities perfectly. Hiei stood up to put some space between them, and went to lean against the wall across from her. "You knew my mother? But that's not possible…unless" She jumped up and grabbed her sword from the wall without thinking, leaving Hiei unable to react right away.

Raven's first thought was that Hiei had been the demon to kill her mother. She had kept herself isolated after Raven's birth so that she could best protect her daughter. Very few people even knew that she had had a mate, much less a daughter. For Hiei to know that left Raven on edge. Hiei easily read her thoughts and, despite being a little offended by her thinking so little of him, he understood her reasoning.

'Hn, relax girl. I have no intentions of harming you. Nor did I do any harm to you or yours so put that sword away before that annoying girl you call a sister gets here.' He ordered, hoping he calmed her fears. He couldn't do his job if his charge feared him.

Raven lowered the sword and sheathed it just as a knock was heard at the door. Hiei called for them to enter and Raven berated herself for not being more alert. Instead she decided to direct her irritation at Hiei. 'So instead of "woman", I've been demoted to "girl"? How very kind of you.' She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes.

Hiei took the chance to rush behind her, barely avoiding the wall, and lift her up. He placed her on the bed, just as the door opened, and stepped away so that he was back against the wall and no one would see him hovering. Surprised, Raven sent him a dark glare. Before she could pull herself back out of bed, Hawk and the red-head appeared through the door.

"Raven!" Hawk cried out and launched herself at her sister. Raven ignored the small pain ask Hawk pulled her into a tight hug. "I was so worried about you! I'm glad you're okay…oh and this is Kurama." She said indicating the guy who escorted her in. "It's so big here that I kept getting lost so Kurama has been escorting me all over the place. Isn't he nice?"

Raven rolled her eyes and listened to her sister talk about what had happened since the incident behind the mall. Kurama caught Hiei's attention and the two of them went outside, allowing the girls to talk in privacy. With a final glance behind him he closed the door and the two male demons stood in the hallway talking.

**YYH *Hiei's POV* **

"How long has she been awake?" The fox asked me. I shrugged, still keeping tabs on the girls in the room. The fox and I had been dubbed their guardians for the time being until that stupid toddler could speak to them about their situation.

The sentence wasn't very lenient for demons that travel through the portals without permission. All because of everything since I had joined the detective's team the use of portals has been very strict. I've spent most of my time helping Mukuro patrolling the borders, but we had recently had a falling out. Something about her feelings towards me and how we weren't truly compatible. Whatever, it was her loss. I never said I had any real feelings for her other than a large respect for her strength and the demon she had become. She just assumed that I did.

"The girl just woke up a few minutes ago." I said, pulling myself out of my thoughts. "I hadn't had a chance to tell her anything yet. The two of you showed up just as I got her calmed down." I paused for a moment before muttering in a voice only the fox was able to hear because he was so close. "I still can't believe she's Shade's daughter."

I had told him my story before. It was late and I'd been drinking after failing once again to find the girl I had promised to protect. I made the promise years ago and wished that I had known sooner that her father had been killed. As is I was wondering if it had taken so long to find her that the promise in itself was pointless. She seemed capable of defending herself well enough. As long as she stopped making stupid mistakes, that is. 'Maybe I have some room to keep my promise after all.' I thought to myself.

"So what do you plan to do Hiei?" Kurama asked me, once again bringing me back to the present. "She seems like she's grown up into a strong and self-reliant woman. She seems to be able to handle just about anything."

I scoffed at the fox. Little did he know I had a plan and it didn't involve letting the girl out of my sight or protection. My promise to Shade will be fulfilled…besides those violet eyes still appear in my mind every so often. Maybe now I can rest without carrying the weight of my promise. "I will keep my promise that I made. Until I can be certain she is as powerful as she should be I will put her through every ounce of training I can think of. Including putting her in a fight against the detective if need be."

Kurama gave me a very unnerving and analytical look. "And what of her sister, Hawk? Does she not matter to you? I understand if you choose not to add her into the bargain but the girl needs protection too."

I took a moment to think of it. The fox was thinking something he wasn't saying and I'd be damned if I could actually read his mind. He's one of the few people, demon or otherwise, whose mind I cannot access when I choose. "If I had to choose it would be the girl. Her sister was not part of the bargain and I would not risk the life of my charge trying to train and protect two of them. That's asking for failure in the long run." I said after a moment.

He nodded and took a moment before responding. "I see. That is very wise of you Hiei. I suppose I could take it on as my duty to protect and train Hawk in the same manner as you with Raven. I just wanted to see how you felt about it before I made my decision."

I nodded and before we could continue our conversation we were interrupted by a loud squeal coming from my room. With a glance to each other we opened the door and hurried into the room only to have to dodge a flying pillow. It missed up by mere inches and hit against the wall. I let out an angry growl. What right did they have to throw my things around?

**YYH *Normal P.O.V.***

Hiei and Kurama dodge the flying pillow and looked to see Raven standing on the bed holding a second one in her hand, ready to aim it at Hawk. "Now Raven, you know it's not nice to throw things…" Hawk said and let out a squeal as she ducked to avoid the flying pillow.

"This is your fault." Raven growled and gave Hawk a look that would make the devil himself shake in his fiery boots. "Now come here and taking your beating like a good little Hawk. I promise I won't do too much damage."

Hawk cowered against the wall until she saw Kurama and Hiei enter through the door. She ducked behind Kurama before Raven could find something harder than a pillow to throw at her. "Ahhh, save me Kurama! She's gone crazy!" Hawk cried trying to hold in a laugh.

Kurama gave a small smirk and let out a small cough. "I think everyone just needs to calm down and…ooof" Kurama was interrupted by Raven throwing something else at Hawk and hitting Kurama's chest with it. The fox demon never even saw it coming.

"ENOUGH!" Hiei yelled and everyone stopped their rough housing to look at him. He turned to Kurama and Hawk. "Leave now." He ordered.

Kurama took the hint, okay the obvious order, and ushered Hawk out the door. He closed the door behind him and left Raven in the room with a very irritated Hiei. _I hope the two of them don't kill each other._ He thought to himself before leading Hawk to the common room.

After they left Hiei threw both pillows back at the bed, gently hitting Raven in the head both times. Then he went and sat on the seat hanging out of the windowsill. "Care to explain what that was all about? And was it really worth re-opening your wound?" He demanded, not looking directly at her but her reflection was visible in the window, so it appeared that he was looking outside instead of examining her.

"What does it matter to you? Hawk and I got into a pillow fight, nothing more. Sorry if it's your room but otherwise it isn't really your business." Raven shot at him, irritated at him trying to act like he could control her. Hiei's eyes darkened a little as he turned towards her.

"This is my room and I do not appreciate you and that fool of a girl, you call sister, destroying it over some stupid squabble." He growled. Raven huffed and stood up. She began doing some light stretches, pulling on the partially closed wound. Raven ignored the ache and pushed past it. "If you keep that up you'll re-open the wound and it will take longer for you to recover."

Raven stopped and glared at him. "If I don't stretch then my muscle will just remain tense." She said and moved into another position. "And here I thought you were past all this caveman routine."

Irritated Hiei got up and left the room. Fully stretched but not relaxed, Raven took over his position at the windowsill. _What's up with that guy anyways?_ She thought to herself. _He sure isn't anything like the Hiei Jaganashi that I had heard about._ From there she let her thoughts wander.

**YYH *Hiei's P.O.V.***

Kurama looked up from his book as I came down the stairs. He could obviously see that I was agitated at the girl's antics but I thought that I had kept my appearance calm enough that the two idiots playing their video games wouldn't notice. Of course, that foolish detective never ceases to amaze.

"What's wrong Hiei? The girl giving you trouble?" He called as he battled with the big oaf next to him. "Or did she reject you flat out?" He laughed, which quickly turned to a look of concentration. He must have been losing.

"Come on Urameshi," The idiot said in that voice of his that makes me want to grind my teeth. "You know that no girl would be crazy enough to go out with the shrimp." He gave a triumphant yell and stood up dancing around, teasing the detective about losing the game.

"Yeah yeah sit your ass down and give me a re-match." Yusuke demanded and the two of them went back to playing, taunting each other the whole time.

I tried brushing off the dumbass's words but somehow they actually rubbed me the wrong way. Sure I wasn't one for any kind of relationship. My history was too dark to take on a mate. But that doesn't mean I couldn't find one if I wanted to.

Kurama followed me into the kitchen as I made me a bowl of sweet snow, what everyone else called ice cream. I leaned against the counter eating the cold treat while he leaned against the table watching me for a few minutes. Once I finished my snack I washed my bowl and spoon, and then placed them on the drying rack next to the sink.

"That girl is going to kill herself before I ever get the chance to." I told him, knowing that he was waiting for me to tell him how Raven was doing. "After you left she got up and started stretching her muscles as if she hadn't been hurt at all. That wound hasn't even been healing for an hour and she's threatened to reopen it twice now."

I knew I was growling about it and it was a bit out of character for me, but with the fox I didn't mind as much. Besides I needed to vent to someone who knew how to deal with an unruly patient without threatening them. Kurama pulled something out of the fridge and heated it up without saying a word. Once it was warm he handed it to me. "If she's insisting on staying awake and straining her body at least get her to eat something healthy. If she's as stubborn as you say she'll need the extra strength."

I nodded my thanks and returned to the room with the fox's soup. It actually smelled good so I was sure that the girl would eat it, especially if she knew I wasn't the one to make it.

**YYH *Normal P.O.V.***

When Hiei entered the room, Raven was sitting in the windowsill, nearly asleep. She startled awake upon hearing the door open, hand on her sword hilt before even registering who was at the door. When she saw it was Hiei, she let go of the weapon and relaxed a little. She wasn't sure what was going on but she knew that if the fire demon was going to hurt her he would have done it already. He wasn't the kind to play games.

He placed a tray down on the empty desk next to the door and looked at her. "Kurama said you need to eat something. The fox usually knows what he's talking about." He told her and leaned against the far wall just watching her. When she didn't get up and eat right away he growled and went to the door.

"I for one don't care how long it takes you to recover or if you kill yourself in the process." He growled at her and opened the door. "Eat or don't eat. It's your choice. Just so you know the fox made that for you and his cooking is pretty decent." With that said he left.

_About time he left._ Raven thought to herself. She was pretty hungry but wasn't sure how far she could trust the detectives. After all, the two of them were still up for punishment for traveling through a portal unapproved.

Once she was sure he was gone she scarfed down the soup, which had by this time cooled enough to eat easily, and grabbed her sword. She silently opened the window and looked down. The room was only a couple stories up and she could easily make the landing. She double checked the sword hanging at her side, hand sliding across the jewel encrusted hilt, and dropped out the window.

She landed a little heavier than she had anticipated and winced at the pain that shot through her shoulder. Shrugging it off, she looked towards the nearby forest. It had been four hours since they had found her and brought her to this place. It wasn't nearly enough time for her to have done any real healing, though her shoulder felt better than it should. It was at least mobile.

She made her way to the forest, shoulder throbbing in time with her steps but she ignored it. The edge of the forest was visible by a window in the common room, where everyone was at. She knew with her black tank and cargo pants that, if done right she could sneak off unnoticed. Her boots whispered against the grass as she stealthily made her way across the meadow.

Once she was in the forest she broke into a gentle run and kept going until she arrived at a small lake. The water was fed into it by a large waterfall coming off the cliffs across from her. Seeing the moon's reflection on the water she felt calm and peaceful. Finding a suitable tree she leapt into one of the higher branches and watched the moon's reflection dance upon the water. She quickly fell into a light sleep.

**YYH *Back at the temple***

"How did it go?" Kurama asked politely as Hiei stormed through the room into the kitchen. Once again, he watched as the fire demon opened the freezer and scooped out some more ice cream for himself. "I take it she was still in a tiff?" He asked, raising his eyebrow at the amount of ice cream his friend was scooping out this time.

Hiei glared at him and downed the frozen treat in record time. The fox receive a confirmation grunt in between bites but the was the only response he was to receive until Hiei finished eating. Before Kurama could question further they were interrupted by Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan and Hawk rushing into the kitchen. They were excited about something.

Hiei observed Hawk's personality around the detective, his friend and the ferry girl. _They both show much of their father's personality, but Raven has the stronger resemblance. This girl must be a half-sister because I don't see any of Raven's mother in her._ Hiei thought to himself.

"Hawk just agreed to join Team Urameshi as a way to serve her sentence for that whole portal thing." Yusuke said to the two of them before Kurama could ask what was going on. Hawk gave Yusuke a playful shove.

"Now Yusuke, I said that I would join as long as Raven agreed to it as well. Personally, from what Lord Koenma said, this was the lesser of the two evils." Hawk corrected him and looked the team over. "Though I will have to refrain from killing any of you it seems." She let out a dramatic sigh to show she was playing. "Oh well, there are worse things."

"yeah to think that baby's idea of punishment for using an illegal portal illegally only brought us new allies to defend the three worlds." Kuwabara put in and got confused looks from everyone. "What?" He defended. "Even it if was a legal portal they still could have illegally used it."

Everyone gave him a surprised look and Kuwabara blushed. "The overgrown idiot actually made some sense for once." Hiei muttered just loud enough for the others to hear. Kuwabara started to look pleased with his self and Hiei smirked. "Except, that not only was that redundant, but it is irrelevant to their situation."

With that said Hiei and Kuwabara entered into another one of their famous battles of insults. Hawk was amused for a couple minutes until she felt something was wrong. Searching for Raven's energy signature she couldn't find it anywhere in the house, and when she mentally called out her sister didn't answer. Worried, she spoke up. "Has anyone seen Raven? I can't find her energy signature and she's not responding to my calls."

Kurama frowned. "Hiei just took her some soup; she was still there when he came back down so she couldn't have gone far. Still…" He trailed off for a moment, looking towards the forest. It was the only place she could have gone. "If she did go to the forest, it gets terribly dangerous at night. Not too many high level demons but the weaker ones can form into large enough groups to be dangerous. And Raven wasn't exactly up to par when she left."

Hiei used his Jagan eye to trace her path while the fox spoke. After a few seconds he found her energy signature. As spiritual trails fade quickly, Hiei didn't expect the others to sense it. Most trackers have trouble following a trail after a certain amount of time so they didn't have long to find the girl. "Got her." He muttered and flew out the door without another word to anyone, leaving behind a stunned group and one angry sister.

Kurama sighed and went about cooking dinner. Angry at her sister's recklessness, Hawk helped Kurama with the preparations. It only took a short time, once the boys had gotten scared out of the kitchen by a kitchen knife flying past their heads and into the door, for dinner to get done. They set the food out, barely managing to put aside plates for Hiei and Raven, should they return soon.

**Chapter 2: End!**

Lune: Phew! That was a lot of work to get done in one night, but here it is. Please tell me what you think. I'm trying as much as I can to keep all the characters as much themselves as possible. And as a little side note…it seems that (word wise) these chapters are coming out significantly longer than the original story. Please enjoy and review to tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets Revealed

Lunesca: Hi again...well, in this chapter we will get to see what all the talk about Hiei`s promise and how it involves Raven. So sit back and enjoy the chapter.

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

_**Dream/Memories**_

**YYH** = Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 3: Secrets Revealed**

Hiei raced through the forest in search of his charge. He lost her trail shortly before arriving at the waterfall. _If she's anything like her father she'll have come here to recover. _He thought to himself as he searched the trees for any sign of her. _Hopefully she's got a few more brain cells working than her old man did when it came to sleeping in trees._

The trail had disappeared just before he entered the clearing around the lake. Hiei stopped and searched the trees, looking for any sign that she was or had been there. Something nagged at him and he looked over at the tree Raven was in just to see her start to roll out and begin falling. He raced to catch her just before her body hit the ground.

"Baka onna." He muttered to her, seeing that she still hadn't awakened. Her body had entered a deep healing sleep and it would take some amazing force to awaken the girl in this state. Re-adjusting his grip he heard her mumble a sleepy reply.

"…am not." She said clearly and continued for a few more words that he couldn't make out. Hiei smirked and pulled her close to him. He started back towards the temple and whispered in her ear. "Sleep well. I'm taking you back so you can heal properly my little nightingale. At least now I know to keep a close eye on you."

He surprised himself at the small term of endearment but brushed it off. He knew eventually he'd see her again. He just didn't think he would care so much for her when he did. As he walked the path back to the temple the clouds opened up and rain came pouring down on them. Hiei made his way back as fast as he could, wrapping his cloak around Raven.

**YYH *At the Temple***

Botan and Yukina were staring out the window, waiting for Hiei to return with Raven. They were worried for her and it only increased once the rain had started. The boys and Hawk were sitting around the living room table playing a card game. To look at things, it appeared that Hawk was winning. Even Kurama found it hard to stand his ground with her when it came to poker. Each of the boys only had a small stack of chips left, and as they were only playing with fake money this was a good thing for them.

"Man! What's taking shorty so long to get back here?" Kuwabara complained as he threw his cards on the table, losing yet another hand to Hawk. As the next sets of cards were being passed out he glanced at the window. "As fast as he is, I would have thought he'd be back here by now."

"Kurama?" Hawk asked quietly while Yusuke dealt the cards. "Why is Hiei so obsessed with keeping Raven safe? Not that it's a bad thing for someone to look out for her. But from the sound of things, Hiei doesn't usually care so much about anyone. So I have to ask, why Raven?"

Kurama sighed and put down the cards in his hand without even looking at them. He glanced out the window and decided that it was best for them to know. He didn't want problems because Hiei didn't want his secrets shared. The fire demon would understand on this one as long as he kept it simple. He knew that this would have happened sooner or later and now was just as good a time as any.

He leaned back against the couch as it was to his back anyways. The others put down their cards to listen and the girls turned from the window, curious to hear what Kurama would say. "It was years ago. Hiei was still young and had recently gotten his Jagan eye…"

**YYH *Flashback/Story***

**Hiei stood over the body of a demon from the Cobra Clan. He had just recently gotten his Jagan eye implanted and still wasn't back to full strength, though he had finished his training with the man who implanted it, Shigure.**

**During the fight, the demon had managed to get a hit on Hiei in a moment of weakness. In an attempt to block the attack, Hiei used his arm and got bit by the snake demon. With the demon dead it should have been a matter of hours before the poison coursed through his veins and eventually killed him.**

**But Hiei just started walking. He kept walking until he became too weak to continue and collapsed in a heap, unable to force his body to stand up any longer. By this time night had fallen and any hopes that Hiei would be found and treaded were slim and shrinking as time went on. Hiei eventually allowed his eyes to close waiting for death to take him, accepting it even.**

**Sometime later, he woke up in an unfamiliar hut. He could hear voices talking about him and took the effort to listen in. They were discussing how he could have had such a rare poison enter his system and still live. Hiei saw the bandage around his arm just as the male demon entered the room. Sensing his power, Hiei was embarrassed that someone like himself was saved by a weak shadow demon.**

**At the time the only ones who had known about Hiei and his rescue were Shade, Lyra (Shade's wife) and Hiei himself. Not even Koenma knew about this. He still carries the scar from that battle.**

**In the months that it took for Hiei to heal and recover, from such a rare and deadly poison, he regained his strength and energy by helping the couple with small things at first then larger tasks as his strength grew. **

**By this time Lyra was very pregnant and due within a couple of months. Shade had requested for Hiei to stay and help him protect his mate. Hiei agreed and stayed for a few more months. Eventually Lyra gave birth to a girl. That girl was Raven.**

**Shade feared for his daughter for he was a winged shadow demon. He resembled what most would consider a dark or fallen angel. Lyra on the other hand was a special breed of fire apparition. They were in hiding for their clans feared what would become of such a union. **

**Shade, worried about being found, asked one more favor of Hiei. Should he and his mate perish, he wanted Hiei to train and protect Raven until such time that she was capable of protecting herself. Essentially, they had made Hiei her guardian. Hiei agreed and having a dark feeling about the family, stayed with them for another year.**

**In that time Hiei had come to adore the little girl. He felt like he had found a family. But something kept pulling at him. He had a quest to complete. Now, he was strong enough to complete the tasks he had set before him. With a small regret he left the family and his little charge, hoping to return soon. **

**It was some time before Hiei was able to return. When he went back to the little hut, Shade and his family were gone. With some searching, Hiei found a hidden message that said **_**they have found us. Shade.**_

**When Hiei had finally been able to track them down he found that Lyra had been killed two years before. Hiei was upset by this and continued searching for Shade and Raven. He found them several years later. By this time Raven would have been ten. Hiei arrived to discover that he was too late. Shade was dead and his new mate had gone into hiding with Raven. He never even knew Shade had had a second daughter.**

**Hiei, determined to keep his promise and find the little girl, searched for years. He never gave up looking for her. But as time went on, it became harder and harder for him to find any traces of the girl or her stepmother. Even the Jagan eye was of no use to him.**

**YYH *End Flashback***

By the time Kurama finished the story Hawk was nearly in tears. She had never heard the story of Raven's birth or that they had someone looking for them all this time. Then as the information settled in, she realized, while Raven had Hiei's full protection and resources, she was left with nothing because she had not yet been born when the deal was struck.

"Hiei didn't even know about me until the other day." She muttered to herself finally understanding why he was so cold to her and warm to Raven. "Raven is so powerful now, she doesn't even need his protection though."

Kurama saw through her words and understood her jealousy. Not at Raven, but at the fact that while Raven was wanted, she had no one. Kurama took her hand and smiled at her. "Well, since it bothers you so much, I offer you the same protection that Hiei has given to Raven."

"Hah! Now you both have knights in shining armor!" Yusuke laughed at them making the two blush. Before a fight could break out, Yukina and Botan looked out the window to see a dark form emerging from the forest with something in their arms. "They're back!" the ice maiden cried and ran for the door.

The group soon followed her and awaited Hiei's arrival on the porch. He walked right past the group, using a small amount of energy to begin the drying process on the two of them. He couldn't afford to waste much more, but he worried about Raven getting sick from being out in the storm.

Yukina followed Hiei to his room. She opened the door for him as he carried his charge into the room she had abandoned earlier. The ice maiden quickly closed the window that had been left open, the window seat was soaked but nothing appeared to be damaged. She turned to Hiei waiting for his orders on how she could help.

"Yukina, thank you." He said quietly and, after placing Raven on the bed he grabbed some clothes out of his dresser and turned to the shower attached to his room. "Take care of her for me." He said and entered the bathroom.

Yukina took the time to examine the girl. There was a fresh gash on her forehead, just an inch above her eyebrow, and the wound in her shoulder had opened up again. Yukina started to tend to the wounds, using her energy to help speed the healing.

**YYH *With Hiei***

Hiei started the shower, turning the heat up to his liking. He quickly stripped and entered begrudgingly. The floor of the shower was instantly covered in red and brown as Hiei allowed the water to rinse away the worst of the dirt and blood. The hot water made the wounds ache but at the same time allowed his muscles to relax a bit.

Gritting his teeth in an attempt to keep quiet, he grabbed his shampoo and began to wash his hair, cleaning himself from the top down. His injuries did not make it easy for him. As the water washed the soap away, Hiei examined the multitude of cuts and lacerations along his body. The worst of which, being a deep scratch along the length of his arm and a deep cut along his ribs on the opposite side.

He painstakingly cleaned his wounds and regretfully turned off the shower. Feeling a little revitalized, he used a towel to dry off and sent a little energy to drying his hair instantly. His wounds had stopped bleeding so heavily and he quickly dressed before re-entering his room.

A quick glance told him that Yukina had done what she could, leaving fresh supplies for him to tend to his wounds. She had tried healing him in the past and it left him feeling uncomfortable, so she began leaving him to tend to himself privately, making sure he had everything he needed.

Hiei speed dried the window seat and removed the shirt he had just put on. Trying to mentally prepare himself, he grabbed the bottle of anti-septic and went about cleaning his injuries. He had to keep reminding himself that he had to do so in silence or risk waking the girl up. Instead of growling or cursing out loud, he challenged himself to think of every curse word in the demonic and human languages.

Once the worst was over and he could wrap the wounds, he let out a sigh of relief. Wrapping his chest and stomach in gauze and bandages was fairly easy. He found he had trouble trying to properly wrap the arm wound due to the awkward angle of it. As he fought with the bandages he heard a small groan coming from the bed.

Looking up, he saw Raven pulling herself into a sitting position. Ignoring her for the moment he went back to work, having to redo the wrapping because it came loose. "What happened? And why do I feel like I got hit by a truck?" She asked half-heartily with a groan.

She stole a glance at Hiei and noticed the bandages as well as a bunch of other small cuts that he had so far ignored. "This is my fault, isn't it?" She asked him. When he "hn'd" and ignored her she let out an angry growl. "Stupid move on my part, I was in no shape to have a campout in a strange forest." She grumbled to herself.

"Forget it." Hiei told her, trying to tie off the bandage. It wasn't his greatest work but it would hold, if he could get it tied. Raven looked at what he was doing and went over to help him. Before he could really protest, she re-wrapped the bandage properly and tied it off in only a matter of seconds.

"Sorry Hiei, I…hey what's that?" She asked, noticing a mark on his hand. She turned his hand over and saw a white scar going across it. "You grabbed my sword didn't you? That was a stupid ass move…" She rambled on for a moment before sighing. "At least it didn't kill you. But how could that be?"

Hiei thought about it for a second. Touching her temple he sent a small mental push, silently asking her to let him in. She did and images flooded her mind.

**YYH *Another flashback***

**Hiei was returning to the temple, carrying a sleeping Raven in his arms. The rain was coming down and Hiei was on constant alert but could sense nothing coming from the forest. Suddenly Raven woke up and threw herself out of his arms before he could protest. 'What is it?' Hiei demanded, drawing his sword and going on guard.**

**Raven set herself against his back, mimicking his stance with her own sword. Her lilac eyes searched everything around them. 'Company, strong company. Be prepared for anything.' She sent him as a large group of demons seemed to just appear around them.**

"**Give us the girl and we'll let you leave here alive." One demon said as he stepped forward. Raven couldn't make out what kind of demon he was but she sneered at him then returned to the demons in front of her. Whoever sent them wasn't joking around. Many of the demons were mid to high level A class with some high B and low A class demons thrown in.**

"**Not a chance ugly." Raven said and Hiei let out a growl behind her. The two of them simultaneously maneuvered so that Hiei could face the big brute directly while Raven protected his back. "If your boss wants me to visit he could send a nice, polite invitation and then I might have considered it." She told him over her shoulder.**

**The demon growled and started to move forward. Hiei glared at him, his eyes appearing to glow a bit in the night. The demon hesitated trying to figure out who his short opponent was. As if reading his mind Hiei spoke. "For those of you who don't recognize me by my reputation, I am Hiei Jaganshi, wielder of the Jagan Eye and master of the Black Dragon. This is your last chance to leave this place alive. This girl is under my protection. Anyone who challenges that will only receive death as their reward."**

**Raven was impressed with Hiei's little speech. She knew he spoke the truth. She also knew he only said that because it would be difficult for the two of them to fend off this many high class demons, especially with her being injured as she was. She had very little use of her injured shoulder. **

**Laughing off his warning the demon signaled for the attack and Raven swung her sword, taking the head off the first demon to come close enough. She did her best to stay close to Hiei but they were quickly separated and she was surrounded by enemies.**

**As she continued to fight them off, Hiei turned and noticed her predicament. "Raven." He said softly, trying to make his way to her. Before he could move more than a few steps, a demon had gotten behind the girl and hit her from behind, knocking her out.**

**Her sword dropped from her hand and landed a few feet away from her. Spotting the shimmering handle, covered in gold, silver and jewels, one demon reached down to grab it. Instantly a wind kicked up around him, encircling him in a protected shield, and his life force was quickly drained from him. In a matter of moments there was nothing left but an empty husk.**

**Hiei recovered from the sight a moment too late as a demon's claws slashed open his arm. He growled and in one fluid motion, he turned, taking the demon's head clean off his shoulders. Anger renewed, Hiei began making short work of the remaining demons. Any that came near Raven was instantly killed.**

**As he raised his sword to destroy one of the few demons left, the leader came up from behind him and slashed his side open. He had been distracted by one of them grabbing Raven and starting to run with her. He rushed over, ignoring the leader for the moment and took out the demon who was making off with the girl. Before she could hit the ground, Hiei managed to catch her. Placing her against a group of trees, he was able to finish off the rest of the group swiftly.**

**The whole battle had only lasted a few minutes. In that time there were roughly twenty-three demons lying on the ground dead at Hiei's feet. Satisfied they were dead; Hiei went and wrapped his hand in his cloak and wrapped his hand around Raven's sword. The few steps it took to place the tip of the sword into the sheath at her side were agonizing but not having direct contact with the hilt saved him from even more serious damage.**

**Once the sword was secure, Hiei pick Raven up and looked her over. There was blood coming from her head, just above the eye, and her shoulder was torn open and bleeding heavily. Getting her wrapped in his cloak he secured his grip and raced back to the temple with her, using every ounce of energy left to him to avoid another trap.**

**YYH *End Flashback***

Raven saw everything in full detail. She was amazed that Hiei was able to hold her sword and live. It had a very particular dislike of males. Looking away from him she closed her eyes. "I'm sorry that you were dragged into this Hiei. It seems they will never stop hunting me."

Before she could turn to leave, Hiei grabbed her uninjured arm roughly, forcing her to stop. "Hn, this was not your fault on'na. It's the fault of those who don't know when to leave others alone. I will destroy anyone who comes after you if that's what it takes to keep you safe."

With that Hiei got up and walked to the door. He opened it and looked over his shoulder at her. "You should come down and let your sister know you are alright. She's driving the fox crazy with her incessant questions." With that he walked out the door, leaving the choice to her.

After a moment she followed Hiei down the stairs and into the common room. No one was in there but voices could be heard through the next door. Raven went through it as Hiei went to sit in his normal spot at the window.

The next room was the kitchen and dining room. Everyone was gathered around and talking, in the case of Yusuke and Kuwabara it was arguing. Getting closer she saw that the group was playing poker and with Botan joining in they needed more space to play.

Raven walked behind her sister and ruffled her hair. 'Cheating again are we?' She asked, noticing the large stack of chips in front of the girl. 'I thought you learned your lesson the last time you got caught.'

Hawk chuckled and gave Raven a big grin. 'No actually, cheating isn't necessary with this group. Besides, it's kind of fun to play honestly with them. Not to mention, Yusuke and Kuwabara always give themselves away anyways.'

Raven looked over at Kurama to see signs that him and the fire demon were communicating silently. She assumed that they were discussing what had happened in the forest. Raven knew that she'd have to tell Hawk later but for now it was just good to be up and around.

"Are you hungry Raven?" Kurama asked, bringing the girl out of her thoughts. Raven looked up to see that Hiei had already grabbed a plate of food and Kurama was offering the other one to her. Raven wanted to turn down the plate but with the look on his face she couldn't. So she thanked him and took the plate, picking and nibbling without even noticing what was there.

She leaned over Hawk's shoulder as she ate and looked at her cards. Kurama returned to his cards and looked at them with a frown. "Who dealt this hand again?" He asked looking at the others. Everyone instantly pointed to Kuwabara, well everyone except Hiei who had left, though Raven did use her fork to point instead of her hand.

"It figures." Yusuke mumbled and tried to figure out his hand. Kuwabara's dealing seemed to always come with bad hands for everyone from what Raven gathered. Hawk told her that most of the time the hands had to be thrown in because no one had anything whatsoever to go on.

'Raven, we need to talk later. I made a deal with Lord Koenma and I think you should know about it.' Hawk said to her sister, not looking up from the cards. 'Please believe me when I say it was our best option.'

Before Raven could question her, Hawk threw down her hand and everyone groaned. Raven had never had much interest in card games, most of the time they were just a way to lose money, so she didn't see what had happened.

"Dammit!" Yusuke yelled throwing his cards face up on the table. "I lost again! It's a good thing we weren't playing with real money." He yawned and stood up from his seat. "I'm gonna go catch some z's, night everyone." He waved and went out the door and up to his room.

"Damn that Urameshi!" Kuwabara growled and went after the detective. Whether it was to confront him or follow his example he didn't say. After he left Kurama stood up as well.

"I think it's time for me to turn in as well." He said and kissed Hawk's hand. "Thank you for an interesting experience. It is not something I shall soon be forgetting. Good night ladies." He told the other girls and left the room.

Shortly after all the girls had the room cleaned up and were getting ready to head to their rooms. Just before Botan and Yukina made it to the door, the perky ferry girl stopped and turned around. "Oh I almost forgot! You haven't seen your rooms yet! Yukina, you're the only one left awake that knows which rooms are available. Would you please be a dear?"

Yukina nodded and smiled. She bowed to the two girls, "Please, if you would follow me." With that she went through the door, the other girls on her heels. The rooms were on the second floor with the others, Yukina indicated two doors across from each other.

"This one over here would be Hawk's," She pointed to the left, "and this one would be Raven's" She said pointing to the right. She showed them the different rooms that were around them. "Standing at Raven's door, Hiei's room is on the right, Kazuma's is on the left. Kurama is directly across from Hiei and Yusuke is directly across from Kazuma's. And if you need me, my room is at the end of the hall on Raven's side and Genkai, who isn't going to be back for a few days, is across from mine." She bowed. "Please let me know if you need anything else." She said and went down to her room.

"Well I better be getting back!" Botan chirped and waved at the girls. "I'm sure Koenma is going to be needed me for something. I'll see you ladies tomorrow." And with that she left.

The sisters looked at each other and shrugged. They opened their respective doors and examined their rooms.

Raven's room was perfect. The walls were black with the slightest hint of blue in it. The carpet was a deep purple. The ceiling was like the midnight sky, it showed the darkest blue, purple, and black. Stars and constellations covered the whole thing, except for a full moon right in the center of the painting. The curtains over the window to the left of the door were a metallic silver. The bed was directly across from it. The frame was made of a dark mahogany wood, along with the desk, dresser, and shelves. The sheets were black, the blanket was purple and the comforter was blue. The three pillows were the same colors.

Smiling, Raven cleaned up in the adjoining bathroom and went to bed.

Hawk's was just as beautiful in its own way. The walls were a silver blue, with a gold carpet and curtains. The ceiling was like a painting of the morning sky, with the sun peaking over the corner of the room. The furniture was all made out of knotty pine and matched the room perfectly. The sheets were sky blue, the blanket was white and the comforter was a light yellow. Like Raven's room, each of the three pillows were a matching color.

Hawk blinked her happy tears away and went to the desk to find a brand new diary. She instantly opened it, grabbed a pen and began writing. She spent a good twenty minutes writing everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours before going to bed.

**Chapter 3 End!**

Lune: Okay! That seems like a good place to stop. I'm trying to keep my chapters around 4k words or a little higher but this one was pretty long. I actually took Chapter 4 from the original Guilded Cage and am splitting it up a little differently because it was really short and there wasn't much too it. So please read and enjoy! And I'd love for you to tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome to the Team

Lunesca: okay so the first part of this is a bit of a filler/recap, but it's necessary for the story. The rest will be a continuation.

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

_**Dream/Memories**_

**YYH** = Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 4: Welcome to the Team!**

**YYH *Kurama's P.O.V* **

I had smelled blood coming from Hiei when he went to put his finished plate in the sink. Concerned with the extent of the damage, and curious to find out what had happened out there, I waited for the others to leave before going up to the rooms. I knocked on his door, again catching the faint scent of blood, and waited for him to answer.

"What do you want fox?" he asked and I could tell he was grumpy. He rarely wanted to be around anyone when he was in these moods and they usually indicated something being wrong.

"I merely wanted to speak to you." I told him, being cautious with my words. I really did not enjoy being on the receiving end of his temper, even if I was one of the few people he considered his friend. "I doubt you want to have this conversation in the hallway."

Hiei just grumbled a little and moved aside so I could enter his room. I closed the door behind me and turn towards him, leaning against the wall by the door. I took a moment to decide my best course of action since Hiei didn't like it when others pried into his business. He must have gotten impatient with my presence because he spoke up. "You wanted to talk so speak or get out."

I watched as he sat in the windowsill, looking outside as he always does. Sometimes I wondered if he really was observing the land or lost in his own thoughts when he did this. Shaking away my musings I decided to be blunt. "I would like to know what happened in the forest."

"Hn, it's nothing of importance." He said plainly. I watched as he clenched his hand a little, as if it was hurting or he was remembering something. I couldn't let important information go. Something had happened and we needed to know if it was a random thing or if we needed to prepare for more trouble.

"Hiei, you know I would not pry if it wasn't important." I told him calmly. "Obviously you two got into a fight with someone. We need to know details if we are to properly prepare for an attack. You don't have to protect Raven on your own. Let us help."

Hiei bowed his head for a moment. I was positive I had gotten through to him when he spoke. "I went into the forest, found Raven and started back with her. Before we got out of the trees we were attacked by a couple dozen demons, ranking from high B class to mid A class. I took care of them before they could get far with Raven. She was knocked out and I brought her back here. The fools managed to get a few scratches in during the battle, but nothing serious. Now if that's all…"

I could tell he had left some information out but trusted that it wasn't of any major importance. With a nod I let myself out of the his room and entered mine. I had a few things to ponder before bed.

**YYH *Hiei's P.O.V***

I sighed in relief as the fox left. I hated that he came in here but it was understandable and he was right, though I hate to admit it. After he was gone I went and locked my door against any unwanted visitors. I was surprised when I got back to my room. Raven's scent still lingered even though the window had been left open for some time when she had jumped out of it.

Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes, and smelled her scent. It was smelled like a storm on a hot summer night. There was an essence of warmth to it that intrigued me. Shifting my position, the scent of copper intruded on my relaxation. The wound on my arm hadn't healed properly and had caused itself to reopen.

With a growl I climbed of my seat and retrieved the large first aid kit that the old hag and Kurama had insisted on being in every room and restocked often. There have been many times I have been grateful for this, not that I would ever say anything to them about it.

Finding what I needed, I once again went through the process of cleaning the wound with antiseptic. Cleaning that up I went about stitching it closed with the needle and sterile thread that was in the kit. Needless to say I've needed this kit my fair share of times. It took some time but I had the cuts closed and re-wrapped.

Putting the supplies away and using my Jagan to check on Raven one more time, I fell asleep leaning my head against the cool window.

**YYH *the next morning, Normal P.O.V.***

The following morning, the girls woke up just after the sun rose and the sky was still beautiful shades of pink, orange and gold. They got dressed and readied themselves for the day. Opening their doors they gave each other amused looks to see that both were perfectly synced with the other.

Raven wore ankle length black leather pants, with nearly invisible slots for daggers and any other items she found necessary, a purple tank top and her black elegant but sexy lace up, heeled boots that had only an inch and a half heel so she wouldn't fall over during training or a life threatening battle. Her sword was hanging at her side, tucked out of sight by her light jacket. It was black with designs that were in shades of blue, red, and purple that were so dark they were almost invisible and its hem barely brushed the ground anytime Raven wore it without her boots on.

Hawk on the other hand favored lighter colors. She wore a silvery-blue light long sleeve shirt that flowed out at the wrists a little and the neckline spread out to expose her collarbone. A light grey ankle length skirt that matched it, with slits going nearly up to her waist on either side to give her mobility but leaving little to the imagination. Instead of a jacket, she wore a shimmery cloak that shifted between blue, silver, white and lilac. Her shoes were a lilac version of Raven's only with stylish buckles on the side.

Raven could never understand how she could wear lavender shoes and never get any scuffs or dirt on them. Hawk just replied that she had a spell crystal that protected any cloth she touched with it from dirt or minor harm. She never even had a loose thread.

Hawk gave Raven a gentle hug and the older sister returned it with a small smile. "I don't know about you but I'm hungry and it smells like someone is cooking breakfast." She told her little sister.

Hawk gave a small chuckle. "That would be Yukina, though Kurama might be helping her in the kitchen. He'll do that sometimes if he manages to get up early. From what I gather that girl gets up at some psycho crazy hour and even the household's early risers have trouble keeping up with her."

The girls started down the hall, back-tracking the route that Botan had taken them down the night before. "We better hurry or there will be nothing left. It sounds like Yusuke and Kuwabara are already up. Hopefully they're slower eaters in the morning than at night." Hawk said with a shake of her head. "it was a battle on Kurama's part to save the two plates for you and Hiei last night. The boys were ready to battle it out until Yukina piped in, then Kuwabara argued with Yusuke until he gave in."

Raven laughed. "It's nice to see that someone was taking consideration of me." The girls talked a bit as they went down to the kitchen area. When they arrived the room was in total chaos already. The boys had already wiped out half the food set out on the table, Hiei was looking at the two idiots in disgust, Yukina was embarrassed at their display but was valiantly trying to make enough food to satif everyone, Kurama just ignored them and went about eating.

The girls sat down as far away from the bottomless pits as they could manage, placing food on their plates before the two could make it that far and steal it from them. There was a mountain of food in front of them including bacon, sausage, eggs, toast and pancakes. It didn't take long for the girls to eat their fair share of it.

Kurama had been nearly done when they entered and waited patiently for them to finish. Just as they had put their eating utensils down and finished off their drinks, Botan arrived. "Kurama, have you said anything yet? Koenma is being extremely impatient this morning and wants to speak to Raven and Hawk right away." The fairy girl prattled on and on.

Raven decided it was best that she interrupt though a glance at Hawk told her that she knew what it could be about but Raven didn't have time to ask. Before she knew what was going on she and Hawk were dragged from the table, through a portal and into an office where they were to wait for 'Lord' Koenma.

'Hawk, what can you tell me about Koenma? You've met him while I was out right?' Raven asked quickly. She didn't want to get caught unprepared but the two of them hadn't had much chance to talk as of yet. Hawk gave her a nod.

'Well he's not exactly what you would think. His appearance has been a bit exaggerated, so don't be shocked…' Her comment was cut off by a door opening from behind the desk.

Raven looked to see who had come through the door but all she saw was a blue ogre closing it behind him. She thought he appeared as more of a slave or assistant with nothing but a loincloth for clothes. "Thank you for coming," A high pitched voice was heard and Raven was shocked to see the ogre lift what appeared to be a baby onto the desk, and it was talking! "I know my appearance may be of some surprise to you but please bear with me."

About that time the rest of the team entered the room with Botan, who had left to escort them and tell Koenma that his guests had arrived. Each of them took up a place in the room. Hiei went to the windowseat, Kurama leaned against the wall near him, Yusuke lounged on the couch and Kuwabara sat in one of the two chairs next to the couch. Hawk was already sitting in the chair opposite of Kuwabara, with Raven standing guard next to her. Botan took a seat on the corner of the desk and the ogre stood at attention next to the desk chair.

Raven had done well about keeping her mouth shut and not making any comments about Koenma's appearance. She wasn't sure if he would take offense and punish them worse for their crimes. "Now that we're all here…" he began but was interrupted by Yusuke and a small argument erupted until Koenma decided to ignore the detective's comments.

"Anyways what I was saying is you two have committed a terrible crime. Yet in doing so you've not only shown a weakness in our defenses but you also allowed us to disrupt a slave trade operation revolving around stray humans that would wander into the portal." He began pacing the length of his desk. "I've decided to put you and your sister on my team in form of probation."

This caused a small flicker of interest in Raven. That didn't seem like such a bad punishment. They had already been staying with the team so there wouldn't be much of a difference. At least that's what she thought until Koenma continued. "You are to train with the team for the upcoming tournament next year. Genkai decided that she would rather play the part of the extra this year and as the guest team is required to have six members instead of five this year we would need both of you on the team anyways."

Raven was not happy about being dragged into the next tournament, especially if Hawk was supposed to be part of it. It was her duty to protect her sister and she couldn't do that if she has to let her battle solo, not that Hawk was a pushover but she was the only family Raven had left. She wasn't going to give in that easily.

"Furthermore," Koenma continued. "You are to join the boys in their college courses during your time with them. Kurama can help tutor you so you won't be so far behind but I deem it important that you attend. Hawk has already agreed to my terms under the agreement that it was both of you or neither of you. So the decision is yours Miss Raven."

Raven shoved down her fury and irritation at Koenma's high demand of the tournament but she knew the price many demons pay for crossing through portals illegally. She didn't want that for Hawk so she decided to agree to his terms, but she was going to do it her way. 'Raven don't do anything stupid.' Hawk whispered in her mind. She knew Raven hated ultimatums.

"Do you know what I think of your proposal?" Raven smiled sweetly and sashayed up to Koenma, letting her ankles roll in the boots so her whole body seemed to sway sexily with every movement. Her body spoke of interest and dark things only done in a dark room between couples. Hawk groaned, getting the others to look at her except for Kuwabara and Koenma. They were too transfixed on her movements to look away.

"Not again Raven, this always gets you in trouble." She muttered so quietly that only the fox and the fire demon could hear her. They spared her a second long glance before watching the show Raven was putting on. Hiei couldn't help but notice that the child he had sworn to protect now how some curves to her. He instantly shook the thought out of his head as Raven continued speaking.

"What do you think of it?" Koenma choked out. He couldn't help falling under the spell that she was weaving with her voice and body. Hiei and Kurama quickly saw why she had been labeled as a very dangerous shadow demon.

"I think you can shove it up your tiny little diapered ass." She told him sweetly, honeyed venom dripping on every word she spoke. Koenma was so entranced by her act that it took him a moment to realize what she had told him. At least until the others attempted to control their laughter. She walked just as smoothly as she had arrived and with every step, Koenma's face turned a darker shade of red.

Before the prince could say anything Raven had strutted out the door, leaving the boys with amused looks, Hawk with an embarrassment leaving traces of pink on her face, Botan and the ogre were left to worry about Koenma's lack of breathing.

Before she had gotten far a voice spoke from the shadows. "Impressive display on'na, sure you are not an actor?" She looked to see Hiei had snuck out behind her and had waited for her down the hall. His face held no expression, but his eyes held some emotion that he struggled to keep hidden. Raven ignored the look, not wanting to deal with difficult thoughts right now.

"No I'm not." She replied sharply. A small flicker of anger flashed across his face at her tone. "And the correct term would be actress. I'm a female therefore I would be an _actress_, actor would be a male." She said smartly and continued to walk off.

By this time Hiei was both amused and irritated and not sure which one he wanted to be first. He chose to be irritated. "Baka on'na!" He growled at her, his tone slightly threatening. "You'll be back."

Raven stopped at this, curious as to how he could be so sure. Crossing her arms over her chest, she leaned against the wall across from him with about ten feet separating them. "Oh, and why is that?" She asked in a demanding tone.

Hiei smirked as if he had just heard an amusing joke. Using his Jagan eye, he had been listening in on the conversation between the others in the office. Hawk had decided to temporarily join with Keonma's detectives until Raven decided to leave or she convinced her to stay. If the first happened, she'd leave right along with her sister. If the second did, the two of them would become official members of the team.

Hiei knew he could use this against Raven. It was his duty to protect her and he couldn't do that if he was constantly running missions or being involved in one problem or another. He needed her to stay with him. "Hawk just agreed to join the team." He said, leaving out the part about it being temporary and depending on Raven's final decision.

"Koenma wants her to start training. Eventually it will become my turn. Would you leave her completely to my mercy?" He asked her. He had no intention of doing any real harm to the girl, partly because of who she was and partly because if he did not only would Kurama fight him but the whole team would. He just didn't want that kind of headache.

"Because I have no mercy Raven. Think about that when you make your decision." He said as he walked past her, his voice dropping low with untold promises. Raven's body went completely still, as if waiting for the danger that had not yet come to pass.

She glared at the fire demon. "You will not harm her." She decreed and before Hiei could continue goading her she added on, "I will protect her with my life if necessary, but I will not stand for being Koenma's slave. If she chooses to serve her sentence that way, it's her choice. I will stay and support her but I will not do so under Koenma's decree." With that said she stormed off with such force the walls seemed to shake. In a moment she was gone.

"Works fine with me." Hiei said. He was confident that the fox would be able to convince Hawk to stay, with or without her sister. It was just a matter of planning and he would be discussing strategy with the fox later that night.

**YYH *Raven's Room***

It had been a little over an hour since Raven had given her threat to Hiei. She had spent the time mulling over what he could be planning. Why was he so insistent on her staying at the temple? What was so important that he'd go so far as to threaten her sister to make her stay?

After an hour of thinking and looking at it from all angles, Raven still could not figure his reasoning. She was sure that she had never met him before and there was no way he could be that attracted to her in such a short time. But those red eyes that both he and Yukina shared, there was something about them, so similar yet so different like fire and ice.

Yukina's eyes were kind and gentle yet so full of emotion like a soft snowfall on a cold winter's day. She turned such a dark and dangerous color and showed that everything has a beautiful side to it too. But Hiei's reminded Raven of molten lava, roiling and broiling with untamed emotions and at the same time so calm and collected. They screamed danger and beware the fool who does not heed the warning. _What is between the two of them?_ She wondered to herself. _Except for the eyes and height, they don't show any similarities whatsoever. Could they be part of the same tribe then? It would explain why their eyes are so similar and unique._

She was interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Not bothering to scan the energy signature she hollered for them to go away, and not in very nice words. She rolled over in a decision to try and get some rest, thinking the person took her hint and left. "Miss Raven?" Came a soft, cool voice on the other side of the door. "It's Yukina, I would like to speak with you if I may. Or I could come back another time."

Raven could almost see the girl bowing in respect on the other side of the door and just shook her head. _Why her? It could have been anyone but her._ Raven groaned to herself before getting up and opening the door. The girl was too sweet for her own good and Raven was not going to be one to abuse that innocence. "Hello Yukina, please come in." She said so politely one would have thought Raven invited her to a meeting earlier.

"Thank you." Yukina said walking through the door that Raven shut behind her. She took a quick glance around the room before speaking. Raven went back to the bed and sat down, leaving the lone chair for Yukina. As soon as she was settled she began speaking. "I heard that you do not want to join Mr. Yusuke and the others, is this true?"

Raven could see the sad look in the girl's eyes and knew that she'd do anything to make this girl happy. Yukina had a dangerous gift. Raven sighed knowing she had been beaten; mentally she was planning her vengeance on whoever had sent the girl up here nearly in tears. She took the girl's cold hands in hers, storing the information for later evaluation. "It was true; I don't want to stay here under someone's rule. But if you truly want me to stay then I will see what I can do to make things work out for both of us."

"Thank you Miss Raven." Yukina said with a gentle smile. "I just know that this will make Yusuke and the others happy as well. Especially Mr. Hiei, I know he wants you to stay. Do you need anything before I leave?"

Raven looked at the innocent girl with the beautiful mint green hair and frowned. "Yukina, please just call me Raven, and do you even know anything about me? How do you know that I'm not some cold-hearted demon that would kill you and not even bat an eyelash over it? And to add to that why would Hiei even want me around? I thought he didn't like anyone, demon or otherwise." Raven couldn't believe how truly innocent and naïve this girl appeared to be.

Yukina gave her that small, knowing smile. "As you wish Raven, and as for me trusting you, I can see your aura. It has some dark edges but the overall appearance is that of someone who is kind and caring. In fact it reminds me a bit of Mr. Hiei." She observed receiving a look of disbelief from Raven.

_How could anyone think that Hiei Jaganshi and I are alike? Even in our auras is still a little farfetched._ She thought to herself once Yukina had given her observation. Granted they both had something to protect and would do anything to do it, and both had dark pasts but Hiei was known to be a ruthless killer. She had a reputation for being one when needed but never unnecessary killing.

"Also," Yukina continued even though Raven appeared to be in thought. "If you truly wanted to hurt me you would have done so before the others showed up when we took you to the mall. It would have been a perfect opportunity to do so without leaving you or your sister compromised. And then there's the matter of Mr. Hiei…"

Again Raven was surprised at the girl's insight. How could this maiden appear so sweet and childlike but still have the brains to know the best strategic times for kidnapping and/or killing the women of the Reikai Tentai? Though that in and of itself was suicide so most demons had even stopped threating to do it. When it came to Hiei though, she wasn't so sure he was doing it for any reason other than a promise.

It had taken a while but she finally remembered where she had seen those eyes and why his name had been so familiar. It was long ago but she was told that if she ever was in danger and left alone to find Hiei and seek his help. Her father had left a letter when she was just a child that told her the story of finding Hiei and the promise. _Well it's just a little too late for that now isn't it? I can handle myself and keep Hawk safe too._

"Mr. Hiei won't say it, but he does care." Yukina told her and went for the door. "He just doesn't know it yet and doesn't know how to show it if he did. Keep that in mind when he seems to be going hard on you for training. Mr. Hiei hates to fail at anything, and not keeping you safe would be a big failure for him." Tears started to appear in the girl's eyes for the fire demon.

"Please don't hurt him Miss Raven. He's been hurt too many times already and every time he just withdraws and turns colder to those around him, waiting to be hurt again. I don't want to see that happen to him anymore, I just want to see him happy. He more than deserves it." With that she bowed and left the room.

Raven sat there in awe. Here mind was working overtime trying to process everything that Yukina had just said and it still didn't seem to make any sense. Finally giving up on figuring out the fire demon, she showered, changed and went to bed. Something told her to sleep while she could because, from the sound of things, her days are going to become long and difficult.

**Chapter 4 End!**

Lune: Phew that took longer than expected. Though, it didn't help that I had found a Hiei fanfic that kept me up until daybreak reading it. *insert cheesy grin* But I finally got this one done. I actually had to cut the chapter a bit short, but I think it worked out better this way. In the next chapter, Training will begin and hopefully I can improve on the battles that I originally created. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5: Training Day

Lunesca: Alright so the previous chapter went longer than expected so I had to break it up a bit. Fortunately, with my original story, the chapters were only about half the length of the re-write so that means that it should balance out with the minor changes I've made to the story…okay maybe not minor.

A lot of the dialogue and reactions have changed but the storyline itself is the same as the original. I'm just trying to keep the characters more into, well, character. They were a bit OoC in the original Gilded Cage.

Also I know I'm putting up a lot of chapters quickly, about one every day or two, but it would be nice if the people who are reading it could review and tell me what they think of my story, just no flaming please, I don't feel up to roasting marshmallows on your flames. All I would like is some nice, helpful reviews on how I can make this story better or if there is something I missed or need to change. Okay, enough complaining…On to the story.

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

_**Dream/Memories**_

**YYH** = Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 5: Training Day**

Raven woke from her nap and, ignoring the protest of her sore body, gave herself a good stretch before getting up. She estimated the time to be just after noon, which meant she only slept for a couple hours. Feeling better and a bit rested she started wondering what Hawk and the others were doing, until she heard people talking outside. Behind her room was a field that seemed to be used for training purposes. Someone had even done a small section that resembled a tournament ring.

A glance out the window showed Hawk outside with the boys. _They must be eager to get her started on training._ Raven thought to herself. She quickly dressed herself in a dark purple tank top made of some light material, Black cargo pants with her trademark slots for hidden daggers, and combat boots for fighting in. She put her waist length hair up in a high pony tail so that it moved every time that she did and strapped on her sword. Satisfied, she made her way outside just as they were discussing their training regimen.

"Hey Raven! Over here!" Yusuke called out and waved. Kuwabara looked less than happy about something, so with a frown she hurried over. With a small glance around the area she realized it looked even worse than it did from her bedroom window.

"Who's your exterior decorator? This place looks like crap." She said, emphasizing on the fact that she was joking. Yusuke caught on in seconds and wrapped his arm around Kuwabara's neck, pulling the taller man down so that their heads were level.

"That would be us!" Yusuke announced in a loud voice. Hiei rolled his eyes at the Detectives ridiculous comment. "Though, Hiei, Kurama and Grandma helped a little." He added in when he saw the disbelief on Raven's face.

Raven glanced at Hiei, she knew it was reckless to challenge him before she was fully healed but she wanted to go into the training hard and fast and Hiei would satisfy both needs. "Well I guess you boys wouldn't mind showing me how exciting these training sessions get, would you?" She said and glared right at Hiei, silently challenging him.

"Hn, it's your funeral girl." Hiei responded, not giving the others a chance, as he drew his sword and prepared for her attack. He was eager to see just what she had learned without him there to teach her.

Hawk let out a squeak before yelling at her older sister. "Raven! What are you doing? You aren't even fully healed up yet and you're going to take on Hiei!" She shouted, not believing how reckless her elder sister was being; especially after all the lectures of her needing to think things through before doing them.

"I'm sparing, what does it look like?" Raven said from her crouched position. She knew Hiei was fast and wasn't going to chance taking her eyes off of him for a moment. It would be a challenge but she was sure she could hold her own against him. Especially after the arrogant way he acts around her, like she is supposed to listen and obey him. _Not a chance in hell of that happening._ She thought to herself.

'You know it's not a bad idea.' Hiei said to her telepathically. Raven scowled at him, irritated that he had been reading her thoughts. 'You obeying my every command would come in handy.' He continued with a smirk that Raven wanted to knock off his face.

Everyone watching was confused as to what their conversation consisted of as they could only see the change in facial expressions. From the looks of things Hawk was sure that Raven was going to try and kill Hiei.

'Not a chance buster,' Raven growled back at him. 'I obey no one but myself. And you have no right to come into my life and think you can take it over. You aren't my father and you aren't my mate so back the hell off!'

With that said she sent him a dangerous looking grin. Her expression was that of a large cat that knew it had gotten its prey exactly where it wanted it. Now it was Hiei's turn to frown, he wasn't sure if telling her the truth now would do any good or make his job that much harder.

Kurama decided to put a stop to the battle before it began. He was worried about Raven pushing Hiei too far and causing more damage to herself than was already there. "Raven, if you don't mind, I would actually like to put you against Kuwabara first."

Raven and Hiei looked away from each other and turned identical scowls towards the red head. Sweating a little at the double dose of danger the two presented he quickly continued. "I meant it as a way for me to see how you fight. Anyone who goes against Hiei has to move so quickly that most attacks are hard to follow. Also, I'd like to keep the strain on your body to a minimum until you've fully healed." He told her hoping it was enough.

Raven let out a growled and walked away from Hiei to stand in front of Kuwabara. Kurama had made sense and she couldn't argue his reasoning. The purpose of the training was to help each other improve in their fighting abilities. Taking on Hiei right away was not conducive to improving. "Fine, I'll fight the idiot first." She conceded.

_Phew, _Kurama thought to himself, relaxing a bit. _ I didn't think that would go over so well with her. She seemed pretty intent on finding her place, but Hiei was not the place to start on this. I wonder what they were discussing._

'None of your business fox!' Hiei growled at him mentally before stalking off to watch the battle from the trees. Kurama gave a small nervous chuckle before moving over to where the others were with Raven.

"So how are we going to do this?" Raven demanded, she was irritated that her chance at taking on Hiei had gotten ruined. She was determined to put him in his place regardless of the consequences. She knew the others were right and she wasn't ready but damn she found the fire demon annoying.

"Yeah there's two of them and three of us," Yusuke put in placing his hands behind his head. "So who's going to fight who? I wanna see what these two can do." He seemed very eager to get started.

Kuwabara looked upset about something and it seemed as if the other guys were ignoring him. Hawk looked in his direction then turned to Kurama. "Kurama, what's Kuwabara upset about? I thought these two enjoyed fighting."

"Well…"

Before Kurama could answer Kuwabara interrupted, annoyed that they were more or less ignoring what he had to say. "I don't fight girls!" He claimed sounding really defensive. "It's against my honor code!"

"That's only because you know you'd lose." Hiei's voice trailed over from the nearby tree branch that he had chosen to sit on. Kuwabara turned from his conversation with the others and swung his fist in the air at Hiei.

"Hey why don't you come say that to my face shorty?" Kuwabara yelled back at him. All he received in reply was a 'hn' before Hiei appeared in front of him with his sword at his throat.

"Pathetic, you'd rather challenge me to a fight than spar with a couple of females." Hiei scoffed at the idiot. He twitched the sword so the tip pressed slightly tighter to Kuwabara's throat, not quite drawing blood. "Well, you would be dead by now so I guess you have no choice but to fight the girls."

With that he sheathed his sword and walked back to his tree. Everyone watch in silence as he jumped back into the branch and settled there, one knee raised with his arm resting on it while the other lazily hung off the branch.

As soon as the spell was broken, Kuwabara started going off on some tirade about Hiei trying to kill him and how it hadn't been a fair match so it didn't count. The others ignored him for a bit while Kurama continued on where he had left off.

"Well then, that was interesting." Kurama mumbled before turning to the girls. "Alright, Hawk and Kuwabara will battle each other over in the clearing while Raven and Yusuke battle over here." Kurama instructed then looked to Hiei. "I'll assume you'll be watching their battle while I observe Hawk and Yusuke."

Hiei just nodded to the fox and the groups split up into their separate areas.

**YYH Raven's Match**

Raven watched her sister travel to the other side of the clearing before turning to face Yusuke. The two of them watched the other prepare for their fight. "You know I'm gonna tear you apart, right Detective?" Raven said with a smirk on her face. Yusuke returned it full heartedly.

"Hah! As if you could, but I'm willing to give you a fair shot." Yusuke mocked at her and took his fighting stance. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you for your first time."

Raven followed suite and took her stance facing him. "Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm weak Detective. This little scratch won't hold me back any."

The two shared a knowing grin before launching themselves at each other simultaneously. They met in the air, Raven blocked a punch from Yusuke and delivered a hard kick to his unprotected ribs. Yusuke let out a grunt as the two separated. "Wow you pack a good kick." He grumbled before launching a second attack at her.

The two exchanged several blows before separating again. Landing apart, the two were breathing a little heavily. They took a moment to examine the others weaknesses and strengths before running at each other again. Raven sent a hard punch to Yusuke's cheek and he delivered a good kick to her stomach, knocking the breath out of her.

_I better end this soon or I won't be able to continue much longer. _Raven thought to herself. She could feel the wound on her shoulder throbbing.

"You ready to give up yet kid?" Yusuke asked as he rubbed his sore cheek.

Raven gave a short laugh. "Not a chance!"

"Good I was hoping you'd say that." Yusuke grinned. "Now to finish you off!"

With on final effort she ran back at Yusuke as he attacked. Dodging his fist, she rammed her good shoulder into his chest, turned, grabbed his arm and then threw him into the trunk of the tree next to Hiei. Hitting the ground it was obvious that he was knocked out.

As Raven went to check on him he mumbled something about going easy on her before he began snoring. With a grin, Raven looked at Hiei before turning to her sister's match. She looked over just in time to Kuwabara lose.

With a sigh she went over to the other group, leaving Yusuke on the ground in a, now more comfortable, position.

**YYH Hawk's Battle**

Hawk, Kuwabara and Kurama arrived at the other side of the clearing. They could already hear Yusuke and Raven's battle beginning so they wasted no time in getting into position for their own.

"Are you going to fight me or stand there like an idiot?" Hawk asked as she took her fighting stance. Kuwabara was across from her with his arms crossed and adamantly refusing to fight her.

"I won't fight with a girl." He said firmly. "No matter what you do!"

Kurama placed his hand over his face in embarrassed amusement. "And to think, the four of us have managed to save the three worlds multiple times. I don't know how he survived this long." He muttered to himself.

"I have to give you credit for one thing." Hawk said as she tilted her head to the side a bit. "You sure do stand firm when you want to." She sent him a dangerous looking smile. "But that won't keep you safe from me. I'll just use you for warm up, like a punching bag."

With that Hawk attacked Kuwabara who struggled to dodge her attacks. Barely able to avoid them he ended up scrambling across the ground more than he stood up. Hawk was relentless as she threw a punch at him that just barely missed his head, creating a small crater in the ground.

Kuwabara eep'd as he continued to dodge her attacks. _I guess it's okay if I defend myself but I just couldn't hit her!_ He thought to himself as he grabbed her wrist before she could land the next hit and flipped her over his shoulder.

She landed with a grunt and Kuwabara hovered over her. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?" He moaned and went on about Shizuru punishing him for hurting a girl.

Hawk took advantage of his moaning to catch her breath and get back up. Irritated, she saw his back was to her, she kicked him in the back, sending him forward. She proceeded to pound him into the ground with a series of hits that left him dazed and nearly unconscious. With a final kick to the head she sent him flying. Once he landed, Hawk went over to see if he was okay.

Kurama and her stopped and sighed when they saw Kuwabara was completely knocked out from the kick.

**YYH After Training**

Hawk looked up as Hiei and Raven arrived from her battle with Yusuke. With a shake of his head, Kurama took the oaf over to the detective and set the two of them next to each other to rest. When he came back the sisters were discussing their battles and laughing at the two idiots that they had to fight against. Hawk mentioned wanting to get lunch since the idiots had passed out.

"Well I think it's time we took a break." Kurama suggested liking Hawk's idea about lunch. "Hopefully the two of them will wake up after lunch."

After a unanimous agreement from the group, they decided to go in to eat. As they walked through the doors, Yukina poked her head out of the kitchen and announced lunch would be ready in just a couple minutes. Hiei went to his normal spot by the window while Raven and Hawk went to go get cleaned up for lunch. Kurama went into the kitchen to see if there was anything Yukina needed help with.

Just as everyone was finishing lunch Yusuke and Kuwabara came stumbling in. Yukina set some food out for them as the others got up to rest in the common room. No one really wanted to listen to the boys go on about how they 'should have won' or 'were cheated'. They just sat around idly chatting and resting before continuing their training that afternoon.

Several hours later the team was back outside and this time they had switched sparing partners. Now it was Raven vs Kuwabara and Hawk vs Yususke.

"Alright, let's just get this over with." Raven sighed once they were back in the field.

"We've given you enough time to recover." Hawk added as she stretched her arms over her head. "This shouldn't be too hard anyways."

"Ugh, do we really have to?" Yusuke muttered not wanting to get his ass kicked by the girls again. The last thing he wanted was for Genkai to get on him about slacking on his training. Fortunately she was away from the temple for a couple weeks on vacation.

"Yes!" Kurama, Hawk and Raven said at the same time. Trying to hide a smile, Kurama continued on it. "We need to determine the best way for these two to work on their training. Since you and Kuwabara are mainly fighters, Hiei and I can watch to see their fighting strategies and what their weaknesses are. From there we can decide where they need improvement."

"Tch, fine." Yusuke and Kuwabara muttered before returning to the areas they battled in before. Hiei stayed to watch Hawk's battle against Yusuke. He and Kurama could discuss the battles later.

**YYH Hawk's Fight**

"So I'm guessing that being younger means that your sister is the stronger one right?" Yusuke asked Hawk. He seemed kind of nervous to be fighting the younger sister after his battle with Raven.

Hawk shrugged. "I guess you could say that Raven is stronger, faster and better than me." Yusuke sighed at this. He didn't think he could handle a second training fight with someone who was better than Raven.

"Though," she continued, appearing to be thinking about it by tapping her chin with her finger. "I have beaten Raven on the rare occasion and usually the matches are fairly even. I guess you'll just have to decide huh?" She gave him a big grin with her eyes closed.

Yusuke groaned and readied himself for another fight. Grumbling to himself he glanced over at Kurama and sent the fox a death glare; looking back at his opponent just in time to block a kick coming at his face. "Ha! Is that all you've got?" He challenged.

Hawk gave him a very dark smile. She leapt towards him again, throwing a few punches before catching him with a hook kick to the head. He stumbled backwards, barely defending the next attack she threw at him.

After exchanging a few blows, he barely managed to get a few hits in on her, the two of them were in a deadlock. They had their hands clenched together in the others and were pushing to get the upper hand. Hawk avoided a headbutt from him and using his moment of unbalance she swept his legs out from under him.

Yusuke fell sideways to the grounds, losing his grip on her to try and soften his landing. He rolled to put some space between the two of them only to find her above him, her fist only an inch away from his face.

"I believe that would mean I won." She beamed at him. He was about to retort when they heard Kuwabara's yell of 'Spirit Sword'. They looked over just in time to catch the very end of Raven's battle.

**YYH Raven's Fight**

Raven stood across from Kuwabara, she figured that it would only take a minute or two to beat the shaking Kuwabara. He stood with his arms crossed, still unhappy at having to fight with a girl. "I still won't fight, no matter what you do to me!" He announced stubbornly.

"Yeah I see how well that worked out with my sister." Raven mocked with a smirk. "How's your head?"

Kuwabara rubbed the lump on the back of his head. He had forgotten it was there until she mentioned it, and suddenly it started hurting again. "Hey! I just didn't want to hurt her, if she had been a boy I wouldn't have been defeated so easily!" He defended.

"Hn," She grunted, amused. She was determined to piss him off enough to attack her. "Right, like you could defeat a flea. Just admit that you won't fight because you can't."

This worked better than Raven had hoped. Kuwabara's face turned redder than Kurama's hair and he balled up his fist. "Hey! That's not true; I could beat you if I wanted to." He yelled at her. After a few more insults were exchanged he finally got mad enough that he charged at her.

Raven laughed as she dodged his attack. She thought it would take a bit longer before he finally got angry enough to forget who he was fighting but she was getting tired of insulting him. "Is that all you got?!" She said as she bounced off his head while avoiding another attack.

"Why you…" He growled and went after her again. She dodged and blocked his attacks effortlessly. "Stay still so I can hit you!"

Raven laughed at him. It was nothing to avoid his attacks; they were unrefined and had no strategy to them. After a few more minutes of insulting him he finally got tired of getting nowhere. Since they hadn't agreed to no weapons or spirit energy, no one said anything when he summoned his spirit sword to fight her.

Raven was in the middle of jumping over him and couldn't avoid the spirit weapon. She twisted enough to avoid major damage and ended up getting her arm hit with it. It left a scratch on her arm that didn't bleed because of the heat from the sword cauterized the wound.

_Dammit, that was too close._ She thought to herself, grabbing her arm as she landed. _It's time to end this._

Rushing at Kuwabara she avoided his sword with ease since he was upset over hitting her with his attack. Leaping over him, she flipped and landed a kick behind his head. Landing she looked over her shoulder just in time to see him fall to the ground, once again knocked unconscious. With a sigh Raven and Kurama moved the downed fighter to the side under a tree.

**YYH Post Fight**

Yusuke and Hawk hurried over just in time to see Raven beating Kuwabara. Figuring they missed something interesting Yusuke piped up. "What happened?"

"Obviously the idiot got his ass handed to him by a girl." Hiei muttered, appearing behind the duo. Yusuke jumped and Hawk just raised an eyebrow and smirked at Yusuke's inattentiveness. Raven looked up from her position over Kuwabara and gave a small smirk.

"I kicked his ass, plain and simple." Raven said and headed into the temple.

"Wow how detailed." Yusuke grumbled with a pout. Hawk gave him a playful punch on his shoulder then followed Raven. Kurama noticed Hiei had disappeared as soon as the girls did so while he checked Kuwabara over he told Yusuke what happened during the fight.

**YYH The Girls**

Raven walked inside and after grabbing a bottle of water turned to head to her room. Hawk gave her an inquiring look and not even needing to read her mind she just shrugged and headed upstairs. She wanted a shower before everyone started to gather for dinner.

_Hiei didn't seem to care that I nearly killed Kuwabara. _Raven thought to herself as she started the shower. There were two for their floor so it made things a little easier. _Its as if he really doesn't care that much._

'Hn, I don't care about that fool.' Hiei's voice entered her mind. It irritated her that he felt he could read her mind whenever he felt like it. Though, she did forget that her barriers need to be tighter now that he's around. With just Hawk around Raven only kept the basic barriers around her mind. It was less work mentally but to keep him out was worth it.

'Stay out of my mind Hiei!' She yelled at him mentally. With a mental slap she kicked him out and raised her barriers to get some peace. Satisfied at the temp, she entered the shower and let the water wash the dirt away.

**Chapter 5 End!**

Lune: okay so I figured that was a good place to end that chapter. I wasn't sure I was going to make my 4k word quota but I just barely managed it! Yay for me! I want to apologize for how long it took to get this one up but I don't have much access to the computer during the weekends and it's difficult to work on this one from my phone because I want to keep it close to the original story so that means having both the original chapter up as well as working on the new one.

So I want to give a special thanks out to the people who reviewed my story. I'm glad that someone is actually enjoying my re-write. I was so happy when I saw that I not only had reviews but followers and favs. It encouraged me to continue my story as quickly as possible.

So here it is:

Special thanks to

princesslolitatheorca654: I'm glad you like the story. I know you reviewed back on chapter 1 but I put the other chapters up so quickly that I just now got to thanking you. I hope the rest of the story is to your liking.

lolliexbee: I'm glad you find it to be so interesting! I'll try to improve as I keep going.

YuYuHakushoObsesser: It surprised and amazed me to see your review. I've had a few stories lately that have kept me up but I never expected one of my stories to fall into that category. I'm so glad that you love my story!

So what do you guys think? Am I keeping everyone in character or at least close to? Is there anything that should be changed? Please tell me what you think! Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6: Defenses Breached

Lunesca: So…having realized that I'm still getting followers and favs for my other stories that I have sadly been neglecting over the last year or so (mostly due to writer's block on some of them) I've decided that I'm going to start putting some time to work on my other stories, though I think a couple of them I may have to rewrite chapters thanks to things some reviewers have noticed that I have over looked. Unfortunately when I write and post my chapters it's usually at night so I tend to write when I'm tired and don't always catch that I'm missing details.

As always if anyone notices that I do miss details please let me know on that chapter so that I can go back and re-write what I need to so the chapter makes more sense, usually it won't affect the rest of the story. With that said, sorry for taking so long on this chapter but school and housework have been interfering. So please enjoy!

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

_**Dream/Memories**_

**YYH** = Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 6: **Defenses ******Breached**

The next morning found the two sisters awake and heading down the hall to get some breakfast. "So," Hawk began, a little leery about breaking the silence. "I heard that we're supposed to train with Kurama and Hiei today."

Raven gave her an amused smirk. "Sounds interesting, the other two were so easy to defeat that it didn't really seem worth it."

"Who do you think we'll be fighting first?" Hawk asked as they took the stairs down to the common room. Smells from the kitchen were teasing their taste buds. "I hope I'm against Kurama first. I might actually stand a chance. Hiei is just so fast it just doesn't seem like it would be a long battle."

Raven just nodded to her, she felt the need to prove herself to the fire demon so she was more than okay with fighting him first. The conversation stopped as they reached the kitchen/dining area. Kurama was there finishing up the final touches for breakfast.

"Oh, good morning." Kurama said putting the last plate on the table. "Breakfast is ready, so go ahead and eat. Once everyone is up and fed we'll continue with training."

The girls thanked him and started filling their plates. Seconds after both plates were full and Kurama had joined them everyone else had started arriving. Yukina came in from out in the garden area with a basket full of vegetables and herbs, she set them on the counter and filled her own plate. Hiei seemed to appear from nowhere and had a full plate in seconds before disappearing to his window seat.

Just before everyone had finished, a disgusted look crossed Hiei's face, Kurama glanced at the door and resumed eating. Raven and her sister shared a confused look. A moment later a noise could be heard that sounded like someone falling down the stairs. Hiei finished his food and had the plate washed and on the drying rack just as Yusuke and Kuwabara came through the door. At the sight of the food on the table they sat down and started shoveling food to their mouths. Breakfast barely reached their plates before they were shoving it in their mouths.

This seemed to be a normal occurrence as Kurama and Yukina finished their meal. He took the ice maiden's dishes and washed them along with his. Raven and Hawk followed their example, finishing their plates and deciding it wasn't worth fighting over for more food, they washed their dishes and left the boys to finish off the remains of breakfast.

Heading out to the common room they found Hiei in his window seat, Yukina was doing some light cleaning and Kurama was browsing the books on the bookcase over on the far side of the room. "So, I take it that their lack of table manners is a common occurrence?" Hawk asked. Raven could hear the disgust in her voice and silently agreed with her. The boy's lack of manners weren't the worst they had seen but the fighting over food and barely taking a breath between bites was enough to convince anyone to lose their appetite.

Hiei just gave an affirmative grunt, Yukina nodded as she continued cleaning and Kurama gave a slight chuckle. "Yes those two do seem to eat as if it is their last meal. Though, to be honest there have been a couple times it has come close." He finally selected a book and took it to the arm chair next to the coffee table.

"Idiots." Raven mumbled and went to go sit on the balcony around the porch outside. She sat there just absorbing the natural beauty around the temple. It was a few minutes later that Kurama and Hawk had made their way out to find her.

"The morons are finally done devouring the kitchen. Kurama says it's time to continue training." Hawk told her sister, leaning on the balcony rail next to her, as Kurama walked over to the training area on the side of the house. She frowned and Raven sent her an identical look. "We're fighting Hiei and Kurama today."

"What are you so nervous about?" Raven asked wanting to cheer her sister up. It was bad enough that she was so cynical and realistic, she didn't want her happy go-lucky sister to fall into her ways. The only thing keeping her sane was making sure Hawk was safe and happy. Without her Raven knew that there wouldn't be any reason to really keep going and would probably find herself on a very self-destructive path. "These two are a good challenge and we could use a challenge. Besides, it's not life or death so who cares if you get beat right?"

Hawk looked at her sister and smiled. "You're right, there's no reason to worry about failing. It is just training after all." Raven smiled and watched as Hawk bounded off to join Kurama. With one last look at the view she sighed and got up to follow.

Raven arrived to see the others had all gathered and were split up. Hawk and Kurama were discussing something with Hiei next to them watching as Yusuke and Kuwabara got into one of their many arguments. The two of them seemed as if they were ready to go at it before the girls even got their training session in. Seeing Raven join them seemed to get them back on track.

A few minutes later Kurama and Raven had taken to one side of the area; Hiei and Hawk were having their own sparring session and from the sound of things Kuwabara and Yusuke had gone off into the forest to work out their latest fight.

**YYH Raven's Training**

Kurama waited patiently for Raven to make the first move. "So, since you're a fox demon…" Raven started as she tried to look for any week points Kurama could have. She knew a little of his history but not enough to know the best way to attack. "…doesn't that mean that you use plants to fight?" She was hoping that he would let his guard down.

Kurama smiled at her picking up on her tactic immediately. "Yes," He said as he reached a hand into his red hair. He pulled out a red rose as he spoke. "I do use plants as a matter of fact. Rose Whip!" He yelled. With a flick of his wrist the rose that had been in his hand had extended into its whip form.

Raven took slight note that the stem still had sharp thorns on it and decided it was best to avoid the weapon at all cost. _Me and my big mouth. _She thought to herself as she drew her sword. It wasn't the best weapon to use in this fight but she hadn't planned on mid-range fighting. It would be difficult to get in close and land a hit with him being able to attack her from a distance.

"The goal of this exercise is for you to dodge my attacks." Kurama said and his wrist flicked again, sending the whip in Raven's direction. She dodged and moved to attack. "The idea is to see how well you can maneuver without being able to attack."

Raven let out a muttered curse as she dodged a second attack, sending her farther away from Kurama than when she had started. "Good," Kurama complimented her. "Now keep it up!" He said and continued to attack, forcing her to dodge rather than attack or defend herself.

His attacks were coming at her so fast that there was little time to do more than get out of the way before they landed. This training continued for nearly half an hour before Raven slipped and was unable to move in time. The whip came down across her back and shoulder and she cried out at the contact.

"Raven, are you alright?" Kurama asked as he returned his whip to its original seed form and placing it back in his hair. He hurried over and tried to examine the injury but she just brushed him off and stood up, turning to face him so he couldn't see the damage.

"I'm fine." She said when she saw the look of concern on his face. Brushing away an apology from him she shrugged. "its fine I just slipped was all. It's just a scratch anyways."

She could tell Kurama didn't believe her but was too much of a gentleman to call her a liar. She threw him a flippant smile and grabbed a water bottle by the tree where they had set them in an ice chest for the day. "I'll get you next time." She said and drank half the bottle before sitting down and resting against the tree.

"Alright, if you're sure you're fine." Kurama said and turned to the battle with Hiei and Hawk. "Rest for a bit, it looks like those two have finished but we'll take a short break so you and Hawk can rest before your next session."

Raven nodded and put a little more pressure on her back using the tree. It wasn't the best way to stop the bleeding but it would do until she could clean herself up later. She closed her eyes and relaxed for a few minutes, wondering what Hiei's training would be like.

**YYH Hawk's Training (Hiei's P.O.V.)**

I walked over to the other side of the clearing with the younger sister. I would have preferred to watch Raven's battle with Kurama but the fox insisted that I assist in training the other girl as well as Raven.

"So what are kind of training are we doing today, oh Great and Powerful Hiei of the Jagan Eye?" The girl said. I could tell she was teasing but it still grated on my nerves. I had to greatly resist the urge to cut that tongue out of her mouth. She was just like the ferry girl, too chipper all the time and it got on his nerves. He assumed that she got it from her mother because Shade had a bit more somber but playful personality.

"_We_ are not doing anything. You are going to block my attacks." I told her as I tossed her an extra sword that I had brought out from the training room and pulled out my own sword. The damn fox wanted to test their defensive abilities which included speed, defense and reflexes. He being best suited for reflexes; it made since for me to test their overall defensive abilities.

I watched as the girl gulped and got nervous. I wasn't so stupid as to actually cause any damage to her other than maybe a few bruises. I would have used a bokken sword but they break so easily that it would have merely been a waste of time and effort.

She didn't look entirely uncomfortable holding a sword so I decided to attack rather than correct her form. As I got close for the first strike I noticed that her scent was similar to her father's but more crisp and clean like the dew on the leaves in the early morning.

She failed to block the first strike effectively and I pulled back on my hit enough to just give her a small nick on the arm rather than the deep cut it would have been. She moved away and sent me a glare, muttering something under her breath. I wanted to roll my eyes at her but I wasn't going to take my eyes off her in case she decided to attack.

"The goal of the exercise is to either dodge or block my attacks." I told her. It was a bit vindictive of me but I gave her a smug smirk. "If you can't manage then you will obviously be hit; any questions?" I asked. Before she could say anything I attacked again.

We continued on with this training for a short while until I heard Kurama's whip hit against flesh and Raven give a short cry. I jumped away from the girl and looked over to where the other two were fighting. My charge was on the ground, blood running down her back and shoulder, and the fox was rushing to her side.

_That damn fox._ I thought to myself. _If she's seriously hurt I will be taking it out of his flesh and lock that damn girl up in her room while she heals._

"Hiei," I had forgotten that I was training the other girl. I snapped back to what I was doing, satisfied that Kurama had called their training on account of injury. "Are you done with training?" I looked at the girl; she was sweating and panting a bit. Not being highly skilled in swordsmanship, she had several areas that were bleeding slightly from small cuts.

"No." I told her and leapt towards her. I wasn't quite as controlled this time and she continuously lost sight of me as I attacked from different directions. I only let this go for a few minutes before calling it quits. She chuckled slightly, causing me to frown. I was worried I had knocked her senseless.

"What's wrong with you girl?" I demanded. I didn't care for one of the fox's lectures on holding back during training. She just shook her head at me with another laugh.

"Ouch." She muttered before falling backwards onto the field and stared up at the sky as she tried to regain the breath she had lost fighting me.

I shook my head and went over to check on Raven who appeared to be sleeping upright against the tree. I pretended I was after some water, even drinking most of the bottle, while I silently contacted the girl I was supposed to be protecting.

'Are you alright?' I asked her as I jumped into a nearby tree branch. I could smell the blood on her but that didn't tell me much.

'I'm fine Hiei.' She said and I got the image of teeth snapping at me like a dog warning a stranger away. 'I'm just resting up for our fight. I still plan on taking you down.'

I smirked to myself at this. I was pleased that even though she was injured she was still stubborn enough to challenge me. _Stupid girl._ I thought to myself. _Shade may be dead but that doesn't mean that she should be so eager to follow in his footsteps._

'I've got a better idea.' I said thinking quickly. If I fought her now it wouldn't be worth the effort anyways but I still had to make her do something. Hopefully something that would wear her out enough to keep her down for a few days.

'Follow me.' I told her and jumped down next to her. A quick glance over my shoulder showed Kurama applying some kind of salve to the cuts and bruises on the younger girl. Without a second glance to Raven I walked into the forest.

I waited long enough inside the tree line to see her sigh and then force herself up tenderly before following me. I sent an inquiring thought, hoping to sneak in under her radar but she still sensed my presence. 'I'm fine Hiei, it's just a little scratch and a few bruises, nothing to concern yourself over.'

Irritated at her downplaying the damage I picked up my pace. Kurama's whip could cut through solid rock and though he's improved on it, he still hasn't found a way to downplay its effects enough to keep from tearing through flesh if not kept under tight control.

"Hn, your training will be to keep up with me, if you can, until I tell you you can stop." I told her over my shoulder and began walking around the temple's lands. I knew I had ruffled her feathers but it was the best I could think of under the circumstances. She readily kept pace with me, trailing no more than a couple steps behind me.

I continuously increased the pace in which we moved until we were both running at top speeds. Admittedly she had impressed me by keeping up. She only started to fall behind twice and both times forced herself to increase her speed until she was back to her original position behind me.

Trying to keep the path unnoticed I forced her to circle around the outer edge of the temples lands three times before she began to stagger a bit. I took us back towards the clearing and allowed her to stop. She nearly collapsed under the tree she had been against earlier.

We had arrived just in time to see the last moments of the training session. I was impressed at the grace and speed in which the girl was able to dodge Kurama's attacks, though I did suspect that the fox was being even more cautious with this battle than his previous one.

**YYH Hawk's Training (Third Person P.O.V.)**

_I wonder where those two are going_. Hawk thought to herself as she watched her sister and the fire demon walk off into the forest. Brushing off the distraction she turned back to Kurama and smiled. He was nice enough to have put a salve on her injuries to speed up healing and allow for her to continue training. "So, I'm just supposed to dodge your attacks right?"

"Yes," Kurama said as he pulled his rose out again and turned it into a whip. "The idea is to avoid my attacks without getting hit. Are you ready?"

Hawk nodded and took a defensive stance. "Alright then, go!" Kurama said and began his attack. Hawk stumbled as she dodged the first attack, barely missing her. Quickly regaining her control she moved with a bit more speed than Raven did, encouraging Kurama to attack faster to keep up with the increase.

"You're much faster than Raven." Kurama commented as he snapped the whip next to her foot. She was doing a great job of staying just out of range of his attacks. He pulled back a bit when he noticed her getting worn out after a while.

"Yeah, I've always been faster than Raven but she's always been stronger." Hawk panted. Kurama called the training to a halt and Hawk noticed that Raven and Hiei had returned from whatever they had been doing.

After a bit of a rest Kurama cleared his throat to explain the next step of their training. It was barely noon so a small break for lunch was a reasonable idea. "After lunch I would like to see the two of you spar against each other." He told the two of them.

"Why do you want us to fight each other?" Hawk asked a bit confused. Before Kurama could respond a high pitched shriek came from the temple and the four of them were up and racing for the building as fast as they could. All of them were thinking the same thing as they ran, _Yukina_. They knew the ice maiden was caring for the temple alone that day.

Two low "C" class demons stood at the doorway trying to block their entrance but with a growl Hiei had his sword out and destroyed the two of them instantly. Before the bodies could hit the ground they burst through the doors, weapons ready.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were on the ground next to the other door, it appeared they had been jumped after gaining entrance, and nearly two dozen demons surrounded Keiko and Yukina. Everyone was surprised to see Keiko. She wasn't supposed to be there until later that day so no one had even known she was in danger until they came through the doors.

"Get the Hell away from them!" Raven roared and took a step towards the group.

Kurama put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from being reckless. She glanced at him and he silently indicated the two demons nearest the girls. They each had a crossbow aimed at the girls in case of resistance. Raven backed down for a moment but Hawk still glanced at her sister worried. It wasn't often that Raven yelled and when she did you either listened or suffered her wrath.

"Let them go?" One demon questioned. Hawk and Kurama noticed the same thing that all the demons seemed to be watching him. Kurama signaled to Hiei to take that one out, as well as the two with the crossbows, first. "And what makes you think that I'm going to release such succulent morsels?" He asked licking his lips.

'Raven, distract them for a moment.' Hiei said mentally, including Hawk and Kurama in on the conversation. It was a bit more work to keep all four of their minds linked but he knew it was doable. 'I'm going to take out their leader but I need to get the two with the crossbows first.'

'Got it.' Raven replied, feeling the connection stay open. It took a bit of work but she managed to ignore it and focus on the demon leader. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear." She growled dangerously. "I said leave them alone."

"And if I don't?" He laughed ignoring her threat. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hiei use his after-image ability to appear next to the bowmen and slice them and their weapons to pieces in a matter of seconds.

"Or you will become just like your men." Raven smirked, dark pleasure dancing in her eyes giving them a dangerous glow. Hiei moved to keep the two girls behind him as his after-image faded and the leader turned to see the two bowmen drop to the ground in pieces.

The leader croaked out a small noise as he backed away trying to piece together what had happened. "I suggest you call off your men or else." Hawk said in a sing song voice, sounding a little psychotic. It was a tactic she and Raven had used before to unnerve large groups of demons, to a very pleasing outcome.

The leader regained his composure and seethed with anger. Apparently their attempt to remove the demons from the temple wasn't going to work. Kurama and Raven drew their weapons while Hawk grabbed the girls and moved them away from the battle.

"Get them!" the leader yelled and his troops attacked with loud cries. The three fighters began attacking and within a minute all the demons were dead on the floor. The only one remaining was the leader who Hiei took great pleasure in scaring before he killed him.

Keeping in mind that Yukina was watching he held back on his desire to make the demon suffer, instead he instantly appeared in front of the demon with his sword in the leader's gut and slowly pulled it out. The demon dropped to the ground, fear still in his eyes, and Hiei used a clean part of the demon's tunic to wipe off his blade before returning it to its sheath.

As soon as he put his his sword away, Yukina had her arms wrapped around him, crying softly and muttering about how the leader said he was going to take them away and keep them in his harem. Hiei's hands clenched but he released them and awkwardly patted Yukina's back until she stopped crying.

She backed up, wiping her eyes, and her face flushed a light pink in embarrassment. "Oh, please forgive me Mr. Hiei. That was wrong of me to put you in such a position. I know you like your space." She apologized and bowed.

Hiei, a bit unsure about how to deal with the situation brushed her apology off. "Hn, there's nothing to forgive." He muttered and started on cleaning up the remains of their intruders.

Yukina approached the others and asked if they were alright. Raven told her they were fine and placed a hand on her head before helping to clean up the mess. Kurama placed a hand on Yukina's shoulder and after exchanging a few words between the other girls he followed their example.

Hawk took Keiko and Yukina in the kitchen to stand guard over them while they made some tea. It was shortly later that Yusuke and Kuwabara woke up. Apparantly they had been surprised when they entered the common room and didn't sense the two demons waiting behind the door. A good hit to the back of the head knocked the two out.

About that time the girls returned with tea and snacks. "We called Shizuru and Botan and told them not to come over tonight, that we'd have to reschedule." Keiko said after they ate and after a few words they had some tea before finishing the room. Koenma's men arrived a short time later to remove the bodies and clean up what mess had remained.

"So," Hawk said as they settled down for a few minutes while deciding what to do, it was now too late to do anything, so their original plans had been canceled.

"Apparently Keiko decided to show up a bit early to see how things were going and to see if we wanted to go shopping." She said and finished with a yawn. Keiko blushed before smacking Yusuke to the floor for yelling at her over how stupid it was to come to the temple alone.

Everyone stayed around to chat and make sure it was safe for the night. After dinner, and once everyone was convinced it was safe to once again go about their business, they decided that it would be best to stay inside and relax for a while. Raven and Hiei retired to their rooms and the girls forced the men into watching a sappy love movie.

It didn't take long for Raven to get cleaned up and pass out on her bed for the rest of the afternoon.

**Chapter 6 End!**

Lune: wow that was a bit of a long chapter. Sorry it's taken me so long to write it. I hope everyone enjoyed the fight scenes. If you think something could have been different please let me know because I've been working on this for a bit and most of that time was late at night while I was tired. So if it doesn't make sense please don't be afraid to _kindly_ say something. Thanks and please Read and Review. Until next time….


	7. Chapter 7: School?

Lune: Agh! So thank you Lolliexbee for pointing out in the last chapter that I hadn't mentioned why Keiko was there. I think it was one of those things that I wrote out and didn't like the way it sounded but when I went to rewrite it I ended up just continuing the story. I'm going to fix it, but just so the current readers don't have to go back and re-read that section again unless you want to. I kinda inserted the information in different places between the time they saw Keiko and the time Raven went to bed.…

_**Keiko was supposed to meet up with the group later that day and had decided to show up early to talk with Yukina and see if she and the girls would like to go shopping before the other girls could arrive (ie Shizuru and Botan.)**_

That's the basics of what was missed and I'm sorry that it confused you. As I said I wrote most of this late at night while my daughter was sleeping. At that point I'm usually already very tired and I don't always catch mistakes. So major Kudos to Lolliexbee for catching it! Okay, now onto the next chapter!

Legend:

"Talking"

'Telepathic Speak'

_Thinking to oneself_

_**Dream/Memories**_

**YYH** = Pagebreak/Scene Change/Etc

**Chapter 4: School?**

"Raven? Raven!" Hawk yelled through her sister's door, followed by a loud pounding a few seconds later when no response was heard.

"Go away!" Raven growled. She was unhappy at being disturbed from her nap and didn't even bother to open her eyes.

"But Raven, you've been sleeping for hours!" Hawk whined at her sister. Raven groaned and looked out the window. It was barely light out and she thought maybe she had just slept through the night and was still exhausted.

Looking at her alarm clock she let out a second groan and rolled over. She jerked back onto her side and hissed because she had rolled over onto her injured back, forgetting it was seriously damaged. _Definitely not enough time to heal._ She thought to herself.

'Raven, are you okay?' Hawk asked on their private path. She knew Raven wouldn't admit to anything if she was forced to say it out loud where it could possibly be overheard.

'I'm fine,' Raven replied and mumbled out an excuse. 'I was just being a little stupid. Go on downstairs and visit with the others for a bit. I'll be down soon.'

Hawk turned to do as Raven asked when the older sister started calculating the hours. _I came in around two thirty and it's now four thirty-five. Wait…that means I only got…_ Her eyes shot open and turned into a glare before her sister could get more than ten feet from the door.

"HAWK!" She yelled and instantly she felt her sister's aura disappear out the hall and down to the common room before Raven could drag herself out of her bed. Raven growled instead and put her arm over her eyes in a useless attempt to get some more rest.

**YYH Downstairs**

The boys had been downstairs waiting for Hawk to get her sister. She assured them that it wouldn't be any problem at all to drag Raven out of bed for a meeting later. Believing her, they waited for her return from checking on her sister, or so she said. What they got was a brown blur that raced down the stairs and to the far side of the room, next to Kurama who had been sitting in a chair reading a book.

They looked at her and she gave a guilty grin that clearly said 'it wasn't my fault.' Kurama was smart enough to know that she had done something and put his book down while giving her a small yet knowing glare. "Hawk, what did you do this time? And was that Raven yelling?"

Apparently he had heard a few stories about how Hawk and Raven would wake each other during their travels if one of them refused to get up. She looked at him with big puppy eyes and an innocent grin. "I have absolutely no clue what you could be talking about, I did absolutely nothing." She said to him.

It was almost believable, except they had all heard Raven yelling at her sister from a whole floor away. Yusuke rolled his eyes and bit his tongue, his eyes clearly statd that he didn't believe a word of what she was saying. Kuwabara looked at the others a bit confused thinking there was something wrong with them.

Hiei didn't bother looking at the room once it had been established that the brown blur had been Hawk. He had returned to the common room when Kurama found him because Koenma desired a meeting with the girls. So no one could see the smirk that crossed his face once he pieced together what must have happened upstairs.

Kurama looked at the girl with disbelief. He was surprised at Hawk's tactics when it came to waking her sister. The two girls could be downright mean at times.

Hawk just brushed some dust off her shoulder and headed towards the kitchen. Not two seconds had passed between the time she had walked through the door and when she had stuck her head back through it. "Oh and if Raven comes down here, you never saw me k? Laters." And with that she was gone.

The group thought about her odd behavior for a moment and an idea crossed Yusuke's thoughts. "Wait…does that mean she woke Raven up?" He asked the group and both he and Kuwabara visibly paled.

"But she's only been asleep for what, two hours?" Kuwabara whimpered. Kurama started to shrug his shoulders and the same realization hit them all at the same time.

"Shit/What?/Oh my!/Hn, idiot." Said Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei together.

'Hiei, I know you won't say anything so I'm really asking Kurama this, please shut them the hell up. My head is killing me. After you do that, tell Hawk that I'm going to kill her in a slow and painful manner.' Raven's voice whispered through both Hiei's and Kurama's minds at the same time. She was obviously weakened and tired and it reflected in her telepathy.

The link had closed before either of them could say anything. Hiei quickly reopened it, upset that she was so worn that holding the link for more than a minute or two was too much work. It was obvious when she had connected to them. 'If you have enough energy to start throwing threats around then you have enough energy to get your ass out of bed and do something productive.'

Raven groaned and banged her head against her pillow. Regret instantly crossed her mind as the harsh contact increased her headache. 'And just what the hell did you have in mind Hiei?'

'We could always train some more.' He told her and she could feel the evil amusement pass between his thoughts and hers. He would find pleasure in making her suffer.

'If everyone would just leave me alone then I could get back to sleep so I can store up the energy to kill you all.' She growled at him and once again disconnected the link. This time she put a barrier up so he couldn't just access her mind whenever the hell he felt like it. Hiei smirked contently and felt her energy return to normal then drifted off into a stage for sleeping.

**YYH Spirit World**

"Ogre, get in here!" Koenma yelled from his desk. The blue demon came running in at the child ruler's summons.

"Yes Lord Koenma sir?" He panted as he stood next to the desk and awaited his master's orders.

Koenma hit him upside the head and lectured him about not standing tall and panting so much. He cleared his throat and started grabbing papers. "Are Yusuke and the others ready to meet with me? I finally have a few minutes to discuss some important matters with them."

"Yes sir, I'll get them now sir." Ogre muttered and bowed before the prince. He quickly left the room to get things ready for the group to arrive. _They must have done something big to have Lord Koenma summon them to his office._ He thought to himself and activated the portal.

A few minutes later Yusuke had knocked both sets of doors open and was leading the rest of the group into the office, including a very sore and tired Raven. "Well what is it now Binky Breath? You've had us waiting for hours." Yusuke demanded as he plopped into one of the office seats.

Everyone else muttered something in greeting before each of them found their own spots to sit and listen. Kuwabara dropped into the only other chair, Kurama and Hawk sat on the couch between the two boys, Hiei took his place in the windowsill and stared outside at Spirit World, Raven just kind of slid into the shadows of one of the corners. She looked like crap and knew it so she figured she'd use the shadows to her advantage.

"Ahem," Koenma cleared his throat as he stood on his desk. Botan was sitting on the corner of it as usual. She had come in with the group since she was their link for teleporting to Reikai. "Something crossed my mind the other day and I have decided that something should be done with your two newest members."

Before he could explain Yusuke piped up, his voice laced with irritation. "Yeah what's that? Wipe your ass everytime you need a diaper change?" Everyone but Raven and Hiei yelled at Yusuke for his joke. The two of them just shook their heads in disgust.

Koenma's face turned so red that it looked like he stopped breathing. "I'll have you know Yusuke, I am fully capable of using the toilet and don't need that kind of care taker!"

"All I did was ask a question." Yusuke pouted and slumped deeper into his chair. "You didn't need to bite my head off over it."

Ignoring him Koenma continued. "Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, was I want the girls to start going to school. Unfortunately they can't be there alone, especially without a true knowledge of the human world and its customs. This means you gentlemen will be joining them. And before you object, I will have you know that Genkai agrees with me one hundred percent."

As soon as he paused for a breath the room was in an uproar. Hiei was threatening to kill the small prince, Yusuke and Kuwabara were objecting to returning to school, and Raven and Hawk were arguing with each other over the issue. Kurama sat and looked at it objectively but couldn't find much wrong with the idea.

"Enough!" Koenma yelled regaining peace in the room once more. Everyone turned their glares at him but stopped talking for the moment. "Classes begin first thing in the morning. I took the liberty of having your supplies ready and waiting for you in your rooms. Have a good day!"

With that said Koenma opened a portal, signaling the end of the meeting. Everyone left with a grumble and they were all dropped back into Genkai's common room. This time though the old psychic was there and waiting for them.

Raven and Hawk were introduced to the woman and orders were given that they were to attend school and continue their training. Oh, and the stairs do not count. Grumbling everyone went to their rooms to prepare for the next day.

**YYH Morning**

"Hey Raven, get up!" Yusuke's voice grated on Raven's ears as he pounded on the door. "Kurama says that we're starting school today so get your ass out of bed!"

"Yusuke, I swear, if you knock on my door one more time I am going to get out of this bed just to kill you personally." She growled a warning at the detective. She was not in the mood to have her sleep interrupted. "Better yet, if you don't let me sleep I'll just kill you out of principle. Now GO AWAY!"

Yelling at him gave her a headache but satisfaction came from hearing the boy run down the hall. She knew that he'd go and report to the fox demon but it wasn't her concern. She just pulled the blankets back over her head and let herself fall back to sleep.

"How'd it go?" Hawk asked as Yusuke walked back into the kitchen. She had tried to warn the group against waking up Raven when she was in the process of healing but they insisted that she had to get up and join the rest of them for their first day of school. Yusuke just happened to be confident enough to give it a shot.

Yusuke plopped down into a chair and glared at Hawk. He hadn't believed that a demon could be so hard to wake up, but the girls proved him wrong once again. "Actually, I'd like to keep my head so if someone else would like to take a shot at waking her up then be my guest."

Kurama was at the stove getting breakfast ready so he was unable to go and retrieve the girl. He looked at Hawk and began to ask her but she interrupted before he could say more than her name. "Nope, nuh uh, ain't happening. I'm already at my limit for pissing her off. She'd kill Yusuke outright but me she'd torture first. Sorry Kurama, you're cute but not that cute."

Kurama sighed and considered his options. At that time he looked up to see the ice koorime walking through the doors with a basket of fresh herbs. _She wouldn't hurt her, but Hiei might just kill me if I'm wrong. But Yukina is so sweet and innocent that she wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her no matter how angered she was._

"Yukina," The whole room stopped what they were doing and held their breath. Fortunately Hiei was training for a bit before they left and Kuwabara was being slow about coming down for breakfast. "Would you please go tell Raven she needs to get up? I'm afraid that she'll be late for school if we don't leave soon."

Yukina looked at him with her innocent red eyes and nodded. "I'll do that right away then." She said and set the basket on the counter. With a smile to the others she left the room. No one moved, except Kurama who was still cooking, or really breathed until Yukina came down a few minutes later.

She sat down, poured herself a cup of tea and sipped at it. Yusuke decided that he'd had enough suspense and broke the silence. "So what happened?"

Yukina looked up and her mouth formed a cute little 'o' shape. She had forgotten to tell the others what Raven had said. "Well she was asleep when I arrived. I gently woke her up and she said that she was just tired and needed a few more minutes before coming downstairs." She took another sip of her tea before remembering the rest of the message. "Oh, and she said that the next person who disturbs her had better have a death wish."

Hawk had by this time moved over to stand next to Kurama. "You know she's not coming down right?" She whispered to him despite the others being able to hear.

Kurama nodded and decided enough was enough. 'Hiei, would you please go get Raven? She's being rather difficult and I don't want to have to result in drastic measures. We're leaving in ten minutes and I couldn't care less if she has to go to school in her pajamas.'

Kurama had spent the previous night explaining the importance of school in the human world and why the children were supposed to go. Hiei couldn't argue the idea since they didn't exactly have schools in Makai, despite how useful they would be, so he agreed to go and keep an eye on Raven. 'Hn, stupid girl, I'll have her down there in a few minutes. Just don't blame me for any negative results.'

Kurama agreed and finished placing breakfast on the table just as Kuwabara sat down next to Yukina. Everyone exchanged good mornings and started placing food on their plates when they heard a scream coming from upstairs. The sound was mixed between surprise and anger so they didn't react right away.

Seconds later Hiei was running through the room and Raven was close behind him. "Hiei get your fire demon ass back here so I can kick it properly!"

Everyone one stopped and replayed the scene in their minds for a moment.

"Was that Raven in a white?" Kuwabara added.

"And wasn't she soaked?" Yusuke questioned. When the table nodded the two buffoons began to drool over the thought of her in a wet white shirt.

"Yes to both questions." Kurama said and eyed Hawk. If she had been a volcano, Kurama would have predicted an eruption. Now he wasn't sure what she was going to do in her state of mind.

He watched as, unbeknownst to the two males, she appeared behind them and shoved their faces into their plates. He could almost visualize a fire burning in her eyes and flames rising behind her.

"Hey!" Yusuke yelled at her while Kuwabara was still trying to figure out why his face was in his food. "What the hell was that for?"

Hawk just dusted off her hands and sat back down in her seat. "For thinking about my sister in such a perverted way, especially in my presence."

Before an argument could break out Raven came back into the kitchen. Her shirt had dried from all the running and no longer exposed anything unnecessarily. Seeing the satisfied smirk on her face the group got concerned.

"Um, Raven, where's Hiei?" Hawk asked as she visualized every possibility in a matter of seconds on what she could have done to such a powerful fire demon.

"I merely showed him the joys of a morning swim." She said and started to wolf down her breakfast. "Besides he needed a bath anyways so I just killed to birds with one stone. Oh and great breakfast Kurama."

At this point Hiei showed up in the doorway still dripping water, it surprised everyone to see that his hair actually drooped with the amount of water on it. "On'na…" He growled.

Kurama started to say something when Botan's voice interrupted him. "Alright you two that's enough. Honestly you two act like children!"

Botan was standing behind Hiei in the doorway shaking her head with her hands cupping her waist. She actually looked like a disappointed mother for a moment. "Come on everyone or you're going to be late."

After a few complaints from half the group, everyone retrieved their schoolbags and left the temple. It was going to be a long day.

**YYH First Day of School**

Everyone was surprised to find that Botan was joining them as a student but disappointed that they were separated for most of the day. The only time everyone would really get together was during lunch. Botan, Yusuke and Kuwabara were all placed a grade lower than Kurama, Hiei and Raven. Hawk, being younger than Raven but smarter than the other three had a few of the advanced classes.

"Okay so it seems that Hawk and I share homeroom while Raven and Hiei have homeroom together. The four of us will then head to our science class together. Then Hiei and Raven will leave for Geometry, while I have Trig and Hawk is in Calculus." He looked surprised at how advanced Hawk's class was as he compared the schedules so they had an idea of where they were going.

"We'll meet for P.E. and then catch the others during lunch. Afterwards it's Economics for Raven and I. Hawk has computer intro and Hiei gets history. Then its woodshop together followed by our final class, computer intro, though it looks like Hawk will be in ceramics class during this time." He finished and handed back everyone's schedules.

"Let's just get this day over with." Raven said, snatching her schedule from him. She looked at the room number then walked off in the correct direction. Hiei took his and shoved it into his pocket since all he had to do was follow his charge to her destination.

"Shall we then?" Kurama asked Hawk as he handed her schedule to her. She took it from him and placed it in her bag where she could easily access it. Kurama held his hand out in the opposite direction of Hiei and Raven.

Hawk smiled at him. "Might as well make the best of it." She said and grabbed his hand as she walked by, practically dragging him to class while receiving the comfort of knowing she wasn't in a strange area alone. "Think those two are going to kill each other before the day is over?" She asked Kurama.

"I sure hope not." The fox muttered in response. He decided that he didn't mind this girl grabbing his hand and dragging him all over the place. At least she wasn't as obsessive as his fan girls from his previous school.

'This is so damn boring.' Raven complained to Hiei. 'I can't believe Koenma insisted on us going to school.'

'Hn. For once I agree with you. Unfortunately it's not worth getting thrown into spirit prison just because this scholar won't shut up. Though, if he keeps up the glares I might just kill him anyways.' Hiei responded wishing he could be out relaxing in the tree that was just outside the window, or better yet, training.

His attempt at meditation was interrupted by Raven's response. 'I'd help you but I really don't want to sit through another one of Hawk's extended lectures. They're enough to keep anyone in line.'

Hiei smirked and gave her a nod since he was sitting in front of her. Relaxing, he returned to his meditation, ignoring everything else around them. Raven let out a sigh as she listened to the teacher's monotone voice and looked out the window, letting her mind wander.

After homeroom was over, the demon duo made their way to science to meet Kurama and Hawk. After the teacher made them go through the introduction process the four of them sat down near Yusuke and Keiko.

'I don't know which I find scarier, Hiei not killing me or Yusuke messing with dangerous chemicals.' Raven sent to Hawk. It was their first day but the teacher still insisted on them going along with the current experiment.

'I think I'd be more afraid of Yusuke. At least with Hiei you know what to expect, Yusuke could create anything.' Hawk replied and the girls felt two other minds touch theirs.

'Hn, really? You find the detective to be scarier than me?' Hiei asked, surprised that despite his full knowledge of blades and forms of torture the girls were still afraid of the idiotic detective.

'Hell yes!' The girls shouted together making the boys flinch at how loud they were. They apologized quickly and Kurama saw his opportunity.

'It seems you've lost your touch Hiei.' Kurama laughed. 'But I must agree with the girls. Yusuke around unstable chemicals is something worth being terrified of. I believe our only saving grace is that Keiko is here to keep him in line.'

Hiei frowned and realized that he had no choice but to agree. 'Damn the fox has a point. I guess I'll just have to work on being scarier.'

The girls were partially ignoring the conversation and Hawk let out a mental groan. 'Big sister, what did we ever do to deserve this torture?'

'I don't know sister but if I get my hands on that baby…' Raven growled but the teacher demanded their attention, effectively cutting off their conversation for the time being. The four of them could sense he was suspicious that they were communicating but since there was no obvious form of it he couldn't take action.

"Is this class boring your little group?" He asked bringing the attention on the four of them. Yusuke dropped his head into his hand and realized that it was his team that was in the spotlight.

"Well what do you expect old man?" Yusuke shot back at him. He knew he wasn't included for a change but he wasn't going to sit around and watch the others take the heat on their first day. "All you do is talk for half the class and them make us do such stupid assignments. The least you could do is make the class worthwhile."

The teacher became enraged at the audacity of the boy and turned his attack on Yusuke. "Well if you find the class so stupid then you should have no problem using the formula on the board correctly. We'll even make it interesting, do it correctly on the first try with no help and I will let class out early today."

The classroom erupted into groans and complaints about having to not only rely on Urameshi's abilities but allowing him to work with chemicals unaided. Yusuke just shrugged and pulled his goggles down. "Whatever let's just get this done." He said and examined the formula.

The tension in the class was so thick you could cut it with a knife as Yusuke started to pour chemicals into the vial. Other than his initial glance at the board he focused completely on what he was doing. A minute or so after adding something to the vial a small explosion could be heard and blue smoke began to seep out of the glass. He added another ingredient and the blue smoke changed to purple.

The class looked like they were about to die of shock and it left the teacher speechless. "I believe class is excused." He said in a faraway monotone voice before pointing at Yusuke. "But I want to know how you cheated. I was watching you the whole time and you only looked at the board once. There's no way an idiot like you could mix chemicals properly without help!"

By the time he was finished talking his voice had raised to a significant level. Most of the class was staring at Yusuke and all of them were willing to agree with the teacher.

Yusuke shrugged and looked the teacher in the eye. "I just happen to like chemistry. Nothing wrong with that is there?"

Everyone, sans Hiei and Raven, sat in a state of shock. Yusuke ignored them, grabbed a new beaker and mixed some chemicals together. Once he was finished mixing he poured the concoction into a round glass beaker and dropped a piece of dry ice into the mix.

"Soda anyone?" He asked holding up the now cooled liquid. It was enough that the class burst out laughing and filed out of the classroom. Yusuke and his group headed for the roof to talk and relax until their next period. Kurama tried to accuse the others of helping but everyone one of them denied it. The detective surprised all of them.

Hiei and Raven spent their whole Geometry class talking about their different battles they had gone through. This in turn allowed them to get to know the other better without either realizing it. He even told her a few stories about Shade that he could remember.

After Geometry class the two received their books and went to the Gymnasium for P.E. Koenma had previously purchased each of them a set of P.E. clothes, but of course both Raven and Hiei refused to wear them. Hiei found them to be too restricting compared to his normal clothes and Raven refused to wear something so revealing for what should have been a workout.

After a lecture, that the two of them ignored anyways, the four of them were told that they would have to be in either in track or badminton. Kurama chose the latter while the other three decided to take up track. For the girls this meant jogging while Hiei was introduced to the other forms of track such as pole vaulting.

Despite Keiko's desire to eat on the lawn, Yusuke and Kuwabara dragged the group up to the roof for some seclusion during lunch. Of course a fight broke out between Yusuke and Kuwabara while the others enjoyed their meals that Yukina had prepared for them that morning. Hiei kept his distance by sitting on top of the building covering the stairs. Raven was amused at how quickly the boys cowed down when Keiko decided enough was enough and broke up their ridiculous fight.

After lunch Raven and Kurama were forced to separate from the others and go to their economics class. While there Kurama used his telepathic abilities to tell her tales of Youko's adventures. Raven was awed by the things the red head had done when he was a full demon. It just didn't suit his new personality.

Hiei, who had History at this time, actually sat back and paid attention. He found the class to be interesting since he had not been around during the famous wars in the human world. Most of the wars were before his birth anyways so he was highly intrigued. Though he had heard stories about them he enjoyed the fact that most humans had overlooked the different demons that had entered the ranks just for the pure enjoyment of it.

Hawk had gotten her ass handed to her during her computer class when she tried to follow the instructions and completely froze the computer. With all the other computers taken she was forced to sit with someone else and not touch anything. The teacher instructed her to do the assignment the next day as well as the following assignment.

The demons were glad to meet up for woodshop where Raven somehow managed to catch her finger on the wood cutting machine. She and Hiei were making a box out of Mahogany wood and while she was cutting it her hand slipped, grazing her finger against the blade. She ended up putting singe marks on the wood but no one noticed other than Hiei. Kurama and Hawk had fewer problems as they were making an intricate jewelry box out of pine.

Finally it was the last class of the day. Hawk said her goodbyes before headed off to ceramics. The others entered the computer lab and sat down together at a group of computers. An 'out of order' sign was placed over one computer in the corner. After the instructions were given everyone turned on their computers and entered a startup code.

Raven was having trouble but with some quick help from Kurama the computer started right up. Raven caught Hiei struggling out of the corner of her eye. After thanking Kurama she turned to help the fire demon when he tapped the top of the computer in an attempt to make it work. Before she could stop him the whole thing exploded and somehow started a chain reaction with the other computers in their group. The teacher was forced to dismiss class early and everyone rushed out to avoid the smoke.

On the way to Genkai's, once everyone had gotten out and met at the gate, Kurama relayed the excitement in the computer lab to the others. Everyone got a good laugh until Hiei threatened to slit the throat of the next person to make a joke of it. Keiko assisted by smacking the two idiots upside the head and threating to tell Shizuru of Kuwabara's behavior. It worked to keep everyone quiet the rest of the trip to the temple.

"…he's so great with a sword and fighting but give him a piece of modern technology and he blows everything sky high." Yusuke whispered to Kuwabara as they reached the temple stairs. Hiei heared his comment and chased the detective up the stairs. The others just sighed or shook their heads. It was a mystery that boy was even still alive.

Hiei was ready to slice Yusuke in half until he saw the idiot had ducked behind Yukina, who had come out to greet them, and stopped his attack. Giving his sister a silent nod he entered the temple. Yusuke made a couple faces in the direction the fire demon went and was knocked into the ground by an enraged Keiko who proceeded to lecture him while the others laughed.

"What may I ask is so funny out here? And why is there an angry fire demon in my living room?" asked a rough voice from the doorway at the top of the stairs. Hawk gasped and caused Raven to look in the direction of the voice. They both stared at the woman for a moment before speaking together. "Grandma!" they cried and Hawk ran to give the old woman a hug.

"Grandma?" The others said in shock and disbelief. Something told them it wasn't just a nickname like when Yusuke called her the same thing.

**End Chapter 4!**

**Lune: **Okay, so that was a bit longer than I originally intended. Like almost 1000 words longer. So just to clarify Koenma enrolled the girls in school for a couple reasons. One was a punishment and to keep them out of trouble until he needed them. With Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara enrolled in school he didn't have enough people watching the girls.

Second, it was one of Genkai's conditions that the girls at least were to be enrolled in school so that they weren't constantly under foot.

So another thing is, since there is no actual proof of Hiei's age I'm placing him at about 95 years old. The reasoning for this (and the one I most agree with) is that an ice koorime give birth to a daughter every hundred years. Seeing as Yukina takes after her mother's side I would like to think that, since she does not have a known daughter, she must be under 100 years old.

Granted this would be up for great debate but without absolute proof of their age please don't flame or spam me on reasons why this can't be. The general consensus is the two siblings are between 7 and 250 years old. I'm just going off what has been found.

So since this is turning into a rather long author's note please just let me know if there is anything else I missed that needs some clearing up.

Until next time!


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